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LIBRARY 

Theological  Seminary 

PRINCETON,.  N.  J. 

O    BR    45     .H84    1854 

Cowie,    Morgan,     1816-1900. 
'^'^    Scripture    difficulties 


SCRIPTURE    DIFFICULTIES. 


SERMONS 


PREACHED   BEFORE   THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAMBRIDGE, 


INCLUDING 


THE    HULSEAN   LECTUKES   FOR    1854 


THREE  OTHEE  SERMONS. 


THE     REV.    MORGAN    COWIE,    M.A. 


LiTt    FELLOW    OF    ST    JOHN's    COLLEGE, 
HCLSEAX    LECTUKEK. 


LONDON: 
RIVINGTONS,  WATERLOO  PLACE. 

1855. 


^rintetJ  at  tlje  eanifaersitg  Press, 


THOMAS  CHARLES  GELBART,  LL.D. 

MASTER  OF  TRINITY  HALL, 
riCE-CHANCELLOR, 


REVEREND    WILLLVM   WHEWELL,    D.D. 

MASTER  OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE, 


REVEREND  RALPH  TATHAM,  D.D. 

MASTER  OF  ST  JOHN'S  COLLEGE, 


THESE    LECTURES,  DELIVERED   BY   THEIR   APPOINTMENT, 
ARE   RESPECTFULLY    INSCRIBED. 


Stoke  d'Ahernon,   Cobham, 

January,  1855. 


The  Rev.  John  Hulse,  M.A.  by  his  will  bearing  date 
July  21,  1777,  founded  a  Lectureship  in  the  University 
of  Cambridge,  to  be  held  by  a  Clergyman  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  and  under  the  age 
of  forty  years :  the  Lecturer  to  be  elected  annually  on 
Christmas- day,  or  within  seven  days  after,  by  the  Vice- 
Chancellor,  the  Master  of  Trinity  College,  and  the  Master 
of  St  John's  College,  or  any  two  of  them:  the  subject  of 
the  Lectures  to  be  as  follows;  "  The  Evidence  of  Revealed 
Religion;  the  Truth  and  Excellence  of  Christianity;  the 
Prophecies  and  Miracles ;  direct  or  collateral  proofs  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  especially  the  collateral  arguments ;  the 
more  difficult  texts,  or  obscure  parts  of  Holy  Scripture ;" 
or  any  one  or  more  of  these  topics,  at  the  discretion  of 
the   Lecturer. 


CO>tENTS.' 


LECTURE  I. 

ON  THE  DOCTRINE   OF  THE   KESURRECTION   OF   THE   BODY. 

S.  MATTHEW  XXII.  31,  32. 

PAGE 

But  as  touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  have  ye 
not  read  that  tvhich  ivas  spoken  unto  you  by  God, 
saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abt^aham,  and  the  God 
of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  ?  God  is  not  the 
God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living    ...        1 

LECTURE  II. 

ON   THE   DOCTRINE   OF  THE   RESURRECTION    OF   THE   BODY. 

1   CORINTHIANS  XV.  44. 
There   is  a  natural  body,  and   there  is   a   spiritual 

body    ........      35 

LECTURE  III. 

ON   THE   DOCTRINE  OF   THE   RESURRECTION   OF   THE   BODY. 

1   CORINTHIANS  XV.  35. 

Hoiu  are  the  dead  raised  up  ?  and  with  what  body  do 

they  come  ?   .  .  .  .  .  .  .63 

LECTURE  IV. 

ON   CHRIST   PREDICTING   HIS   OWN   RESURRECTION. 

S.  JOHN  II.   18—22. 
Then  answered  the  Jews  and  said  unto  him,   What 
sign  shelves t  thou  unto  us,  seeing  that  thou  doest 


CONTENTS. 

TAGE 

things  ?  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto 
them,  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I 
luill  raise  it  up.  Then  said  the  Jews^  Forty  and 
six  years  was  this  temple  in  building,  and  wilt 
thou  rear  it  up  in  three  days  ?  But  he  spake  of 
the  temple  of  his  body.  When  therefore  he  ivas 
risen  from  the  dead,  his  disciples  remembered  that 
he  had  said  this  unto  them ;  and  they  believed  the 
scripture,  and  the  word  ivhich  Jesus  had  said     .      91 


LECTURE  V. 

THE  SIN    AGAINST   THE   HOLY   GHOST. 

S.  MATTHEW  XII.  31,  32. 

All  manner  of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven 
unto  men  :  but  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy 
Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto  men.  And  ivho- 
soever  speaketh  a  ivord  against  the  Son  of  man, 
it  shall  be  forgiven  him:  but  whosoever  speaketh 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven 
him,  neither  in  this  ivorld,  neither  in  the  luorld 
to  come.        .  .  .  .  .         •  .117 


LECTUEE  VI. 

THE  SIN   AGAINST  THE   HOLY   GHOST. 

S.  MATTHEW  XII.  31,  32. 

All  manner  of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven 
unto  men:  but  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy 
Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto  men.  And  who- 
soever speaketh  a  ivord  against  the  Son  of  man,  it 
shall  be  forgiven  him:  but  whosoever  sjyeaketh 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven 
him,  neither  in  this  tvorld,  neither  in  the  ivorld 
to  come  .......   145 


CONTENTS.  ix 

LECTURE  VII. 

FEKFECTION   THROUGH   SUFFERING. 

HEBREWS  II.  10. 

PAGE 

It  became  him,  for  ivhom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom 
are  all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory, 
to  make  the  Captain  of  their  salvation  perfect 
through  sufferings    .  .  .  .  .  173 


LECTURE  VIIL 

MORAL   QUALITIES   OF    FAITH. 

S.  MATTHEW  XII.  33. 
Them  that  believe  to  the  saving  of  the  soul  .  205 


SERMON   FOR    GOOD    FRIDAY. 

S.  LUKE  XXIII.  28. 
Weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for  yourselves  .  .         3 

SERMON   FOR   EASTER   DAY. 

ROMANS  VI.  4. 

As  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory 
of  God  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk 
in  newness  of  life    ...  .  .  .21 


X  CONTENTS. 

SERMON. 

INDIFFERENCE   TO   THE  WORLD   NOT   ANY   HINDERANCE   TO 
ACTIVE     EXERTION. 

S.  MATTHEW  VI.  33. 

Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  righteous- 
ness; and  all  these  things  shall  he  added  unto 
you       ........ 


PAGE 


37 


ERRATUM. 


Page  ix.  Table  of  Conhnits,  Lecture  VIII.,  for  S.  Matthew  xii.  33. 
read  Hebrews  x.  39. 


LECTURE  L 


S.  MATTHEW  XXII.  31-32. 

But  as  touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  have  ye  not 
read  that  which  was  spoken  unto  you  by  God,  saying, 
I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and 
the  God  of  Jacob  ?  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead^ 
but  of  the  living. 

I  HAVE  said  on  a  previous  occasion,  when 
preaching  from  this  pulpit,  that  the  attacks 
on  the  Catholic  Faith,  which  have  to  be  repelled 
in  the  present  generation,  arise  chiefly  from 
within.  This  is  true  of  the  grounds,  and  evidences 
of  the  faith,  as  well  as  of  the  actual  things  to 
be  believed.  Men  do  not  at  the  present  time 
attack  Christianity  by  endeavouring  to  throw  en- 
tire discredit  on  its  credentials,  but  those  who 
unfortunately  err  from  the  simplicity  of  the  truth, 
have  tried  to  explain  away,  to  mythicize,  to 
diminish  the  witness  for  Christianity,  to  sub- 
stitute for  a  solid  reality  an  empty  shadow,  which 
leaves  us  without  any  permanent  independent 
foundations  of  faith.  Even  those  facts  of  the 
Gospel,  which  are  left  apparently  standing,  have 
in  this  manner  been  emptied  of  all  substance,  and 
made  to  appear  like  the  fables  of  ancient  my- 
thology,— vehicles  of  doctrine  rather  than  sub- 
stantial verities,  such  as  S.  John  says,   '  we  have 

H.  L.  A 


2  LECTURE  I. 

heard,  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we 
have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled.' 

The  process  which  some  modern  interpreters 
have  applied  to  the  Scriptures  seems  to  assume, 
fundamentally,  though  not  ostensibly,  the  unten- 
able ground  which  Hume  advanced  long  ago, 
viz.  that  supernatural  effects,  even  if  competently 
witnessed,  were  in  their  nature  so  incredible,  that 
they  ought  at  once  to  be  set  aside  on  that  account. 

They  do  not  indeed  contend,  that  the  whole 
should  be  believed  a  falsehood  S  they  do  not  in- 
validate, as  Hume  did,  human  testimony ;  but, 
allowing  the  sincerity  of  the  writers  of  our  Gospel 
histories,  they  contend  that  these  writers  did  not 
intend  to  put  before  us  matters  of  fact,  that  they 
did  not  wish  us  to  understand  from  their  narra- 
tives— occurrences  actual  and  physical;  but  that, 
after  an  oriental  fashion,  or  in  the  style  of  the 
older  mythologists,  they  dressed  up  in  the  dra- 
pery of  imaginary  facts  certain  doctrines  which 
they  wished  to  inculcate,  they  presented  ideas 
to  mankind,  under  the  form  of  certain  e'lKoves: 
which  should  stand  forth  as  the  representatives 

'  Strauss  expressly  guards  himself  against  this,  and  quotes 
Usteri  from  the  Ullman's  U'  Umlreit's  theol.  Stud'ien  u.  Kritiken, 
1832.  4  Ileft.  'We  must  not  suppose  that  any  one  of  them  (the 
first  Christians)  sat  down  at  a  table  and  invented  the  tales  like 
poetical  fictions,  and  committed  them  to  -writing.  No,  these  stories, 
like  all  other  legends,  were  formed  by  little  and  little,  in  a  way 
which  cannot  now  be  traced  out,  gained  consistency  more  and  more, 
and  at  last  were  chronicled  in  our  evangelical  wx'xinigs'-^hitroduc- 
tion,  §  9. 


LECTURE  I.  3 

of  the  leading  points  of  the  system,  but  were  not 
meant  to  be  credited  as  actual  substantial  exis- 
tences'. 

And  the  root  of  this  system  is  a  disbelief  in 
all  miraculous  interferences.  Thus  Strauss 2,  in 
speaking  of  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord,  makes 
general  reflections  on  the  impossibility  of  any 
resurrection  of  the  body.  '  If  the  souP  have  to 
restore  the  immediate  organs  of  its  activity,  like 
a  diseased  limb,  organs  which  have  been  ren- 
dered useless  by  death,  this  would  be  impossible, 
because,  in  order  to  produce  any  effect  on  the 
body,  the  soul  has  need  of  these  very  organs  ;  so 
that  even  if  any  charm  kept  the  soul  in  the  body 
after  death,  it  could  not  prevent  its  corruption,  as 
it  would  be  incapable  of  exerting  any  influence  ; 
or  if  by  a  first  miracle  the  soul  were  brought  back 
into  the  body,  it  must  by  a  second  miracle  have 
restored  to  it  those  bodily  organs  which  had  per- 
ished. But  that  would  be  an  immediate  inter- 
ference of  the  Deity  with  the  regular  course  of 
natural  life,  which  is  incompatible  with  enlight- 
ened ideas  on  the  relation  between  God  and  the 
world.' 

Now,  it  seems  that  throughout  the  investiga- 

'  The  difference  between  a  inyth  and  a  legend  seems  to  be,  that 
the  former  starts  with  an  idea^  and  dresses  it  up  under  fictitious  cir- 
cumstances ;   the  latter  starts  from  facts,  and  they  are  altered,  in- 
creased, or  diminished,  and  embellished  to  bring  out  certain  ideas. 
^  Leben  Jesu.  3,  4,  137- 

^  The  Germans,  in  metaphysical  language,  mean  by  the  soul 
the  spirit  of  man  when  in  his  body. 

A2 


4  LECTURE  I. 

tions  undertaken  by  Strauss,  it  is  the  necessity 
which  these  'enlightened  ideas'  involve,  of  reject- 
ing all  miracle,  which  induces  him  to  propose 
the  mythical  theory  as  the  solution  of  difficulties. 
This  then  is  the  process :  to  attack  the  genuine- 
ness and  aut/ieniiciti/  of  the  Gospels,  and  afterwards 
to  account  in  a  free  and  unrestrained  manner  for 
the  Gospel  history  as  it  now  stands. 

In  the  first  place,  this  method  apparently 
leaving  the  facts  untouched,  questions  the  genu- 
ineness of  the  Gospels,  but  allows  this  much : 
*  no  doubt  these  were  the  early  impressions  of 
Christians  ;  these  were  the  histories  and  legends 
which  became  accepted  as  the  foundation  of 
Christianity  ;'  but  it  asserts  '  our  histories  are  not 
testimonies  of  eye-witnesses  and  ear-witnesses  of 
the  Word.'  Having  thus  got  rid  of  the  technical 
stronghold  of  the  genuineness  of  the  Gospels,  it 
attacks  their  authenticity  by  shewing  that  the 
parts  cohere  with  difficulty,  by  getting  together 
all  the  discrepancies,  real  or  imaginary,  which 
must  be  found  in  independent  accounts  of  the 
same  circumstances,  related  honestly  and  artlessly 
by  men  having  high  objects  in  view,  variations 
which  have  no  bearing  whatever  on  the  main 
features  of  the  narrative ;  and  then  our  objectors 
offer  a  solution  of  the  assumed  inconsistencies,  by 
throwing  over  the  whole  a  mantle  of  mytliical 
accommodation,  in  which  historical  accuracy  is 
neither  intended  nor  reasonably  to  be  expected, 
where  facts  will  be   mixed  up  with  fiction ;  and 


LECTURE  I.  5 

the  Gospel  history  is  frittered  away  into  a  series 
of  fabulous  legends,  to  be  taken  only  as  the  evi- 
dence of  certain  floating  ideas,  prevalent  at  some 
period  of  the  existence  of  the  Church,  subse- 
quent by  about  a  hundred  years  to  the  birth  of 
Christ. 

These  views  have  been  combated  successfully 
by  men  much  more  competent  to  the  task  than  I 
can  pretend  to  be  ;  but  there  still  remains  to  meet 
and  oppose  opinions  or  difficulties  which  are  the 
germ  of  the  unbelieving  spirit,  fully  developed  in 
these  foreign  speculations,  which  unfortunately 
themselves  are  so  widely  diffused  amongst  us  ;  and 
I  propose  to  select  a  subject  for  this  course  of 
Lectures  which  is  one  more  than  all  others  ex- 
posed to  the  doubts  and  hesitations  of  men  who 
give  free  rein  to  their  reasonings,  and  admit  the 
control  of  the  Word  of  God  only  in  a  subsidiary 
and  secondary  sense,  inclining  rather  to  reject  its 
authority,  if  their  reason  condemns  the  conclusions 
to  which  it  inevitably  leads. 

Of  course,  if  such  a  conduct  of  the  under 
standing  is  influential  in  any  subject,  it  will 
chiefly  be  where  the  whole  is  confessedly  a  great 
difficulty,  and  where  the  revelation  shews  us 
things  to  which  present  experience  has  no  parallel, 
and  which  must  be  hard  to  be  understood : — 
I  mean  the  revelation  of  the  future  life.  I  shall 
endeavour  in  what  I  have  to  say  to  avoid  all 
modern  personal  controversy,  and  all  differences 
between  Churches,   in   order  more  punctually  to 


6  LECTURE  I. 

fulfil  the  duty  devolving  on  the  Christian  preacher 
to  promote  the  general  conviction  of  the  truths  of 
revelation,  without,  in  the  words  of  the  Founder 
of  this  Lecture, '  descending  to  any  particular  sects 
or  controversies  (so  much  to  be  lamented)  among 
Christians  themselves.' 

The  difficulties  and  obscurities  then  to  which  I 
wish  to  call  your  attention,  and  with  respect  to 
which  I  would  offer  some  remarks,  are  connected 
with  the  resurrection  of  the  body — the  qualities 
of  the  resurrection-body,  or  pneumatic-body  of 
S.  Paul,  the  difficulties  of  personal  identity  and 
the  separate  existence  of  the  soul,  and  the  pro- 
phecies of  our  Lord's  resurrection. 

The  field  of  discussion  is  sufficiently  wide  to 
occupy  a  much  longer  time  than  can  be  devoted 
to  it  in  so  short  a  course  of  Lectures.  It  must 
therefore  be  my  endeavour  to  supply  food  for 
private  meditation  and  reflection,  without  estab- 
lishing conclusions  by  means  of  elaborate  argu- 
ment ;  but  rather  indicating  sources  of  informa- 
tion, and  summing  up  the  results  to  which  re- 
searches have  led,  selecting  and  concentrating 
that  which  seems  to  me  well-founded,  and  valu- 
able in  the  labours  of  the  learned,  and  endea- 
vouring, at  times,  to  put  in  the  modern  language 
of  the  pulpit,  those  reasons  and  trains  of  thought 
by  which  the  orthodox  writers  of  our  communion 
have  supported  the  faith  of  the  Church.  I  am 
sure  that  the  more  we  read  the  works  of  those 
great  men,   whom   the   Church  of  England  can 


LECTURE  I.  7 

number  amongst  its  theologians  in  times  of  old, 
the  more  we  become  convinced  that  there  is  little 
that  is  new  to  be  advanced  in  the  s^ihstance,  how- 
ever we  may  make  it  appear  new  in  the  manner. 
As  the  student  of  the  evidences  of  religion  finds 
continually  that  the  sophisms  and  objections  of 
modern  writers,  who  bring  out  their  attacks  with 
all  energy  and  great  confidence  in  the  originality 
of  their  views,  have  constantly  been  urged,  ex- 
amined, and  refuted  before  ;  so  I  have  found  it 
to  be  the  case,  that  many  things  said  in  defence 
of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  many  arguments  that 
strike  us  as  novel,  and  convincing,  many  modes 
of  thought  that  seem  to  come  with  a  new  force  to 
the  encounter,  have  been  often  and  better  treated 
before.  And  when  we  have  found  this  to  be  the 
case  in  our  own  study  of  the  subject,  it  must 
make  us  constantly  apprehensive  of  the  imputa- 
tion of  plagiarism,  if  we  pretend  to  originality, 
and  make  us  naturally  anxious  to  take  our  stand 
in  that  true  catholic  position  which  the  Christian 
preacher  should  endeavour  to  occupy : — to  ask 
for  the  old  paths  that  we  may  walk  in  them  ;  and 
in  bringing  out  things  new  and  old,  to  take  care 
that  what  is  new  coheres  aptly  with  the  old,  that 
it  has  its  root  firmly  clinging  to  those  ancient 
foundations,  on  which  the  waves  of  unbelief  have 
beaten  inefi^ectually  for  many  a  century. 

The  order  in  which  I  propose  to  consider  these 
subjects  will  be  as  follows  : — 

1.     Assuming  what  the  Scriptures  tell  us  of 


8  LECTURE  I. 

the  resurrection  of  the  body,  to  examine  how 
far  this  doctrine  is  peculiar  to  the  Christian  or 
latter  dispensation. 

2.  To  ascertain  what  the  Scriptures  tell  us  of 
the  qualities  of  the  resurrection-body,  or  pneu- 
matic-body of  S.  Paul. 

3.  To  establish  the  truth  of  personal  identity 
in  the  resurrection,  on  grounds  not  inconsistent 
with  physical  facts. 

4.  To  shew,  in  answer  to  Strauss'  objections, 
that  our  Lord  did  predict  his  own  resurrection, 
and  to  explain  the  difficulties  which  he  finds  in 
the  Gospel  narrative  in  reference  thereto. 

Such  subjects  being  suited  to  the  period  of 
the  Ecclesiastical  year  at  which  these  Lectures 
are  delivered,  may,  by  God's  blessing,  be  condu- 
cive to  appropriate  meditations  by  all  of  us,  on 
points  connected  with  our  hopes  and  fears  as 
Christians,  and  may  tend  to  make  us  stedfast  and 
immoveable  in  the  faith  of  the  Gospel,  and  not 
barren  nor  unfruitful  in  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

In  each  case  I  shall  endeavour  to  select  some 
difficult  or  obscure  passage  of  holy  Scripture, 
the  explanation  or  comment  on  which  will  have 
reference  to  the  subjects  described,  in  their  pro- 
per order. 

That  which  is  to  occupy  us  this  day  is  the 
resurrection  of  the  body.  As  to  the  fact  of  such 
a  resurrection  being  constantly  taught  in  the 
New  Testament  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  it  is 


LECTURE  I.  9 

needless  to  offer  any  proof  of  it.  We  may  assume 
it  as  a  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  that  the  dead  shall 
rise  again.  We  shall  hereafter  have  to  consider 
what  is  involved  in  these  words,  and  we  may 
therefore  proceed  to  consider  to  what  extent  this 
doctrine  of  a  resurrection  was  peculiar  to  the 
Gospel :  whether,  and  in  what  degree,  it  was 
known  either  to  the  Jews  or  the  Heathen. 

Now,  in  the  text,  our  Lord  arguing  against  the 
Sadducees,  asserts  that  they  might  have  learned  the 
doctrine  from  the  law:  and  there  is  some  difficulty 
in  following  the  argument  He  produces  to  con- 
vince and  silence  them.  The  conclusion  drawn 
from  the  words  of  God  to  Moses  has  sometimes 
been,  that  as  He  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but 
of  the  living,  therefore  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob 
must  have  been  living  in  some  sense  at  the  time 
when  God  proclaimed  Himself  their  God.  But 
that  they  were  not  living  in  the  ordinary  sense 
is  certain,  because  the  same  might  be  said  of 
them  that  S.  Peter  said  of  David  :  '  He  is  both 
dead  and  buried,  and  his  sepulchre  is  with  us 
unto  this  day.'  They  were  therefore  not  living 
bodies,  and  it  remains  that  we  conclude  their 
souls  were  alive.  In  this  view,  the  argument  of 
our  Saviour  is  to  prove  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.  And  so,  to  controvert  the  religious  system 
of  the  Sadducees,  the  whole  fabric  of  which  falls 
to  the  ground,  if  its  corner-stone,  the  denial  of  the 
separate  existence  of  spirit,  is  refuted  by  the  sure 
word  of  God  himself. 


10  LECTURE  I. 

This  is  one  interpretation  of  the  passage.  The 
great  objection  to  it  is,  that  it  is  expressly  said 
our  Lord  referred  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
'  concerning  the  dead,  that  they  rise  ;'  and  it  is 
certainly  not  obvious  that  the  separate  existence  of 
the  soul  dra\YS  as  a  necessary  consequence  after 
it  the  revivification  of  the  body,  though  some 
have  endeavoured  to  shew  this :  on  the  contrary, 
it  might  be  said,  that  there  are  reasons  to  be  urged 
against  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  if  we  reason 
without  a  revelation,  while  the  fact  of  «  future  life, 
even  of  the  soul  only,  as  meeting  many  of  the 
moral  difficulties  which  suggest  its  probability,  is 
assented  to  very  readily. 

In  order  therefore  to  support  the  interpreta- 
tion put  upon  our  Lord's  argument,  it  is  urged, 
that  the  words  '  resurrection  of  the  dead'  are 
used  in  a  restricted  sense.  The  word  e^eye'ipeiv 
is  sometimes  used  for  *  to  make  to  stand,'  and 
so,  '  to  continue,'  'to  be  preserved.'  Thus  S.  Paul 
quotes  the  ninth  chapter  of  Exodus,  where  God 
saith  to  Pharaoh,  '  Even  for  this  very  purpose 
have  I  raised  thee  up,  that  I  might  shew  my 
power  in  thee.'  And  the  Septuagint  represents 
the  words  thus  :  '  For  this  cause  hast  thou  been 
preserved  to  this  day.'  It  is  argued,  that  when 
S.  Luke  says,  'the  dead  are  raised,'  he  may 
mean  only,  that  they  are  preserved  ^ 

Now  the  use  of  the  New  Testament  is  certainly 

'    Rom.  ix.  17:    f'<;    uvto  tovto  e^t'iyeipd  (re.      Ex.  ix.  10:    evfKfi/ 

TOVTOV   i'l€Tt]pt]dt]<;, 


LECTURE  I.  11 

to  appropriate  the  words  veKpov^  iyelpew,  and  eyelpe- 
(j6ai  (XTTo  T(ov  vcKpcov,  to  the  Resurrection  of  the  Body, 
in  the  first "  place  literally,  and  then  figuratively 
in  some  places,  to  conversion  of  men  from  sin  to 
holiness,  because  of  the  aptness  of  the  figure 
which  represents  men  in  a  state  of  unrepented 
sin,  bringing  death,  as  now  dead,  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins.  It  requires  therefore  some  very 
strong  reasons  to  induce  the  student  of  the  Gospel 
before  us,  to  give  up  here  that  primary  and  na- 
tural meaning  of  the  words  '  as  touching  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead'  (S.  Matt.  xxii.  31).  'As 
touching  the  dead  that  they  rise'  (S.  Markxii.  26), 
'  Now  that  the  dead  are  raised'  (S.  Luke  xx.  37), 
which  at  all  events  appear  to  refer  to  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body. 

In  the  next  place,  an  argument  which  at  first 
has  some  speciousness  in  it,  is  used  about  the 
word  resurrection.  It  is  observed  that,  in  all 
three  Gospels,  in  reporting  the  answer  of  our  Lord, 
the  words  the  dead,  are  always  used  as  the  mas- 
culine o'l  veKpol,  Toys  i'ci<:pou^,?ind  never  rd  veKpd  in  the 
neuter,  dead  bodies. 

But  this  is  surely  insufficient ;  for,  in  number- 
less passages  of  the  New  Testament,  where  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  is  plainly  spoken  of,  the 
masculine  is  used.  S.  Paul,  arguing  before  king 
Agrippa,  of  the  reasonableness  of  his  confidence 
in  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  says,  generally, 
*  Why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible 
with  you  that  God  should  raise  the  dead'  {vcKpov^). 


J  2  LECTURE  I. 

In  the  15tli  chapter  of  the  1  Cor.,  treating  ex- 
pressly of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  '  we 
have  testified  of  God,  that  he  raised  up  Christ  ; 
whom  He  raised  not  up,  if  so  be  that  the  dead 

rise  not,'  e'nrep   dpd  o'l  veKpol  ouk  eyeipovrai,  and  Other 

places  in  that  chapter.  Moreover,  even  speaking 
of  dead  bodies,  it  would  not  be  contrary  to  the 
phraseology  of  the  New  Testament  to  call  them 
vcKpoi,  for,  in  the  phrase  '  Let  the  dead  bury  their 

dead,'    we    have    d(pes  tou9    veKpov<s  Od^^/ai    tov^  eavTwv 

vcKpovs,  where  the  word  Odyj/ai  prevents  our  taking 
the  second  vcKpol  in  a  spiritual  sensed 

The  arguments  deduced  from  the  word  e^eyei- 
p€iv^,  and  the  words  '  resurrection  of  the  dead,' 
which  tend  to  prove  a  restricted  sense  of  the 
latter,  do  not  seem  therefore  entitled  to  much  con- 
sideration. 

The  interpretation  which  assumes,  that  our 
Lord  here  argues  for  a  future  life,  without  as- 
serting the  resurrection  of  the  dead  body,  cannot 
derive  support  from  such  subsidiary  arguments, 
and  it  must  be  examined  on  its  own  ground. 

Now  the  question  of  the  Sadducees^  refers  to 

*  See  Euthymius  Zigahenus,  quoted  by  Alford  on  Matt.  viii.  22. 

2  The  word  e^eyelpetv  only  occurs  in  two  places,  (1)  in  that 
already  referred  to,  Rom.  ix.  17;  and  (2)  in  1  Cor.  vi.  14,  'and 
God  hath  both  raised  up  (h^tpc)  the  Lord,  and  will  raise  up 
(e^eyepel)  us  by  his  own  power.' 

3  The  curious  mystical  meaning  attributed  to  this  passage  by 
S.  Augustine,  is  as  follows :  'Scptem  fratres,  Sec.  Matt.  xxii.  25.  In- 
tclliguntur  homines  impii,  qui  fructum  justitia?  non  potuerunt  afterre 
in  terra  per  oraues  septcm  niundi  a?tates,  quibus  ista  terra  consistit: 


LECTURE  I.  13 

a  State  in  which  men's  bodies  would  be  in  exist- 
ence, and  when  those  relationships  which  spring 
out  of  corporeal  existence  would,  in  their  expecta- 
tions, be  necessarily  revived.  And  it  does  not 
seem  at  all  clear  how  they  could  be  convinced  of 
great  error  with  respect  to  their  unbelief  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  unless  the  fact  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  is  clearly  proved  by  our 
Saviour.  He  corrects  first  of  all  their  erroneous 
ideas  about  the  state  of  those  risen  from  the  dead, 
and  then  returns  to  convince  them  of  error  in  their 
general  conception  of  the  impossibility  of  the  re- 
surrection. It  is  as  though  he  had  told  them  : 
Your  ideas  of  the  relations  of  human  beings,  when 
raised,  are  erroneous,  and  therefore  your  objec- 
tion to  the  resurrection  founded  thereon  is  mis- 
taken ;  moreover,  you  ought  from  the  law  to  have 
concluded,  that  there  must  be  a  resurrection. 
Your  error  is  twofold  ;  not  knowing  the  Scrip- 
tures, you  have  missed  the  instruction  they  give 
you  as  to  a  resurrection;  and,  not  knowing  the 
power  of  God,  you  have  supposed  that  the  dif- 
ficulties you  find  in  the  laws  of  the  method  of 
preservation  of  animal  life,  and  the  positive  social 
enactments  of  Moses,  are  'permanent,  and  cannot 
be  set  aside  in  the  new  state  of  man,  ensuing  after 
the  resurrection. 

Now,  if  this  view  is  correct,  we  ought  to  find  in 

postea  enim  et  ipsa  terra  transiet,  per  quam  omnes  illi  quasi  septem 
mariti  steriliter  transierunt.' — Questiones  Evangeliormn,  Lib.  i. 
Q.  32. 


14  LECTURE  I. 

our  Lord's  argument,  a  convincing  proof  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body. 

Before  endeavouring,  however,  to  put  in  clear 
language  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  which  seems 
to  me  most  in  character  with  the  general  current 
of  the  Gospel  scheme,  let  us  observe,  that  in  fact 
the  resurrection  of  man  must  mean  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body.  We  do  not  at  present  enter 
into  the  question  of  identity  ;  but  a  body  is  surely 
necessary  to  constitute  a  living  man.  We  do  not 
mean  by  man  a  purely  spiritual  being;  and  there- 
fore, if  the  man  now  dead  is  to  live  again,  he  must 
have  a  body ;  and  whatever  the  resurrection-body 
may  be,  the  fact  that  the  Scriptures  refer  to  the 
future  life  of  man,  always  by  words  which  im- 
port a  re-imparting  the  principle  of  life  to  that 
which  died,  we  must  not  suppose  that  we  are 
gaining  much  in  the  way  of  clearness,  if  we  use 
the  words  '  resurrection  of  man'  instead  of  re- 
surrection of  the  body,  because  we  cannot  have 
a  conception  of  a  resurrection  at  all,  unless  we 
mean  thereby  restoration  of  a  corporeal  frame  to 
the  disembodied  spirits  But  to  this  we  shall 
return  again  hereafter. 

*  Notwithstanding  the  objection  urged  against  these  words  it 
seems  to  nic  that  we  are  quite  justified  in  using  them.  The  idea  ia 
of  course  indefinite  :  but  it  is  generally  understood,  dim  as  it  is ;  and 
common  modes  of  speaking  are  surely  to  be  legitimately  used  in  pa- 
ra^nesis,  though  it  may  be  right,  in  philosophical  discussions,  to 
require  a  more  rigid  adherence  to  a  settled  nomenclature,  and  exact 
expressions.  To  use  great  plainness  of  speech  must  mean  that  we  are 
to  address  men  in  the  phraseology  of  the  many,  and  not  let  metaphysi- 


LECTURE  I.  15 

The  solution  of  the  difficulty  which  seems  to 
hang  over  the  Saviour's  argument,  appears  to  me 
to  depend  on  the  following  idea.  S.  Luke  reports 
our  Lord's  words  as  follows  :  '  Neither  can  they  die 
any  more,  for  they  are  equal  unto  the  angels,  and 
are  the  children  of  God,  being  the  children  of  the 
resurrection.'  This  points  out  to  us  that  we  are 
to  see  in  the  words  of  God  to  Moses  an  assertion 
of  his  being  now  the  God  of  the  patriarchs,  and 
that  we  are  thence  to  conclude  they  must  rise 
again.  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  are  declared 
to  be  God's — His  Son's — and  hence  the  children 
of  the  resurrection.  Sonship  of  God  is  therefore 
of  necessity  a  state  which  involves  inheritance  of 
Godlike  incorruption,  and  the  declaration  of  this 
Sonship  is  a  declaration,  that  '  this  corrui3tible 
must  put  on  incorruption.'  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob  are  declared  by  God  to  be  His^,  after  their 
bodies  have  crumbled  into  dust ;  they  must  there- 
fore have  to  inherit  an  incorruptible  life  hereafter, 
at  sometime  or  another,  and  therefore  live  again. 

In  this  sense,  in  respect  of  having  an  incor- 
ruptible life,  Adam,  before  the  fall,  was  a  Son  of 

cal  forms  mar  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel.     The  message  is  to  all 
the  people  :  he  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear. 

*  In  like  manner  S.  Paul,  in  the  epistle  to  the  Hehrews,  xi.  J  6, 
asserts  that  God  proclaimed  himself  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament 
worthies  who  died  in  faith,  because  they  thereby  proved  that  they 
sought  the  happiness  of  a  future  life.  '  Now  they  desire  a  better 
country,  that  is,  an  heavenly  :  wherefore  God  is  not  ashamed  to  be 
called  their  God  :  for  he  hath  prepared  for  them  a  city :'  i.  e.  he  is 
their  God  because  they  have  an  inheritance  of  incorruption,  and  have 
diligently  sought  it  in  faith. 


16  LECTURE  I. 

God.  Those  who  had  the  pi-omise^  of  redemption 
are  called  by  anticipation,  Sons  of  God.  Our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  pre-eminently, 
having  life  in  Himself;  and  one  of  the  reasons 
we  find  assigned  for  this  peculiar  title  being  be- 
stowed upon  Him,  is  his  resurrection  from  the 
dead.  He  was,  says  S.  Paul,  'declared  to  be  the 
Son  of  God,  with  power,  according  to  the  Spirit 
of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead.' 
And  all  the  regenerate  are  made  Sons  of  God,  as 
having  an  incorruptible  inheritance,  the  com- 
pletion of  their  vloBeaia,  or  adoption,  being  looked 
for  in  the  redemption  of  the  hochj  (Rom.  viii.  23). 
In  like  manner  the  angels  are  said  to  be  Sons 
of  God  because  they  are  imperishable,—  have  an 
enduring  existence. 

Bishop  Bull  sees  in  the  words  of  the  promise 
to  the  patriarchs,  intention  of  conveying  the  idea 
of  eternal  life^.  He  says :  'There  are  in  the  Law 
general  promises;  or,  at  least,  given  in  general 

*  See  the  passage  quoted  from  S.  Chrysostom^  (p.  17). 

*  And  Dr  Samuel  Clarice.,  Evidences  of  Natural  and  Revealed 
Religion,  p.  241,  Ed.  6.  The  Jewish  Rabbis  too  held  this  opinion, 
'  God,  speaking  to  Abraham,  says  :  "  I  will  give  to  thee  and  to  thy 
seed  after  thee,  the  land  in  which  thou  sojoumest."  And  yet  it  is 
certain  that  Abraham  and  the  succeeding  patriarchs  did  not  possess 
that  land ;  it  is  necessary  therefore  that  they  should  rise  again, 
that  they  may  enjoy  the  promised  gifts  !  else  the  promises  of  God 
would  be  vain  and  unfulfilled.  Hence,  therefore,  not  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  alone  is  proved,  but  also  an  essential  foundation  of  the 
Law,  viz.  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.' — 3Ianasseh  Ben  Israel,  De 
Resurrectione  Mortuorum,  p.  7-  See  also  the  arguments  of  Eulo- 
gius  apud  Photium.  ccxxx.  from  the  third  Book  of  the  Decretum  in 
Samaritanos. 


LECTURE  I.  17 

terms,  ia  which  eternal  life  not  only  may  be  un- 
derstood, but  it  is  evidently  the  Divine  intention 
that  it  should  ;  such  as,  /  will  he  thy  God,  and,  / 
willhless  thee.  That  in  these  promises,  thus  ge- 
nerally expressed,  it  is  possible  those  blessings 
are  intended  which  take  place  only  after  death, 
'Vv^ho  can  doubt?  That  God  should  be  the  God 
of  any  one  what  does  it  signify,  but  that  God 
will  embrace  him  with  Divine  benevolence?  But 
such  benevolence  as  is  Divine,  and  worthy  of 
God,  can  be  only  that  beyond  which  there  is 
nothing  greater  or  better  ;  it  must  also  be  benevo- 
lence of  the  longest  duration,  that  is  eternal ;  most 
powerful  in  effect,  and  therefore  liberating  from 
death  and  destruction.  That  God  intended  that 
under  these  words,  eternal  life  should  be  under- 
stood, appears  from  the  words  of  Christ  and  His 
Apostles^' 

Let  us  then  understand  the  declaration  of  God 
to  Moses,  *  that  he  was  even  the  God  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,'  after  they  were  dead  and  buried, 
as  a  proclamation  of  their  having,  as  His  sons,  an 
inheritance  of  incorruption,  and  therefore  that 
they  should  rise  again  ^ 

*  Harmonia  ApostoUca,  Diss.  ii.  c.  x.  §  8. 

'  This  seems  to  me  entirely  to  accord  with  the  sense  of  St  Chry- 
sostom's  explanation  of  the  passage  :  oJ;^\  twi/  ovk  ovtwv,  (ptjcr\,  koi 
Kaddva^  d(pavia-6iVT0)Vf  Kai  ovk  fTj  dvaa-Trja-OfAevwv.  Ov  yap  eJirev, 
^f^t]v,  dXX",  E</xi,  Twu  ovrmv  koi  twv  ^mvTiov.  "Cttyirep  ydp  d  'ASa/x, 
el  Kai  t^r]  tjj  tjnepa  »)  Icpayev  dird  tov  ^vXov,  diredave  ttj  dtroipda-ei, 
ovTU)  Ka\  ovToi,  el  kcxi  ereQvi^Kea-av^  ^C"^"  "^^  YFIOSXESEI  t^c 
dvaffTacreu)^. — Homil.  in  MatthcBum,  Lxx.  al.  lxxi.  Benedictine  Ed 
Tar'rs,  1836.  Tom.  vii.  pp.  778,  9. 

H.  L.  B 


18  LECTURE  I. 

The  fact  of  the  appellation,  *  sons  of  God,' 
being  given  generally  in  the  Old  Testament  to  the 
pious,  points  also  to  the  conclusion  which  may  be 
drawn  as  to  the  extent  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
Resurrection  which  prevailed  among  the  Jews. 

That  our  Lord  came  to  '  bring  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light,'  must  mean,  as  it  has  been  shewn 
by  Bishop  Sherlock',  '  that  he  gave  full,  clear,  in- 
dubitable instruction  on  this  important  point,  and 
not  that  it  was  utterly  unknown  before.  The  very 
fact  of  his  teaching  the  Sadducees  their  error  in 

'  See  his  sermon  on  this  text.  He  says,  '  To  hring  anything  to 
light  may  signify  according  to  the  idiom  of  the  Enghsh  tongue,  to 
discover  or  reveal  anything  which  was  perfectly  unknown  before ;  but 
the  word  in  the  original  is  so  far  from  countenancing,  that  it  will 
hardly  admit  of  this  sense.  The  Greek  runs  thus  :  ^wrio-ai/Toc  oe 
l^iorjv  Kai  dcpdapcriav.  Now  (pwTi^eiv  signifies  (not  to  bring  to  light, 
but)  to  enlighten,  illustrate,  or  clear  up  anything.  John  i.  9 :  o 
(puiTiiji  TTcivra  di/9p(i07roi>,  "  the  true  light  which  lighteneth  every 
man,"  not,  which  bringeth  every  man  to  light.  1  Cor.  iv.  5 :  o? 
^wTiVej  TO.  KpvTCTo.  Tov  crK6Tov<!,  "  who  shall  bring  to  light  the 
hidden  things  of  darkness,"  (E.  V.);  more  suitably,  who  shall  throw 
light  on  the  hidden  things  of  darkness,  these  actions  of  wicked  men 
not  being  perfectly  unknown  before,  but  their  root,  origin,  motive, 
being  not  discerned.' 

The  verb  is  sometimes  transitive,  sometimes  intransitive.  In 
the  former  sense  the  lexicographers  adopt  the  sense  assigned  by 
Bp.  Sherlock  as  the  first  meaning,  and  the  subsequent  ecclesias- 
tical use  of  (pu}Ti(Tfxo<:  for  baptism,  and  (puyTi^o/jLevoi  for  the  bap- 
tized, agrees  with  it.  Suidas,  however,  gives  only  the  meaning 
which  is  adopted  in  the  English  translation,  ek  0ws  07611' :  and 
Kustcr,  in  his  Latin  Version,  supplies  the  sense,  illumitiare,  illus- 
trate, in  brackets. 

(ptoTi^etv  sfepe  hoc  sensu  legitur  ut  explicandum  sit,  doccre  ut 
Judd.  xiii.  8.  2  Reg.  xii.  2,  ubi  Alexandrini  Hebr.  n^li/l  per  (puTi^etv 
expresserunt,  add.  Ps.  xiii.  4.  Kuinocl  in  Ruperti  Commentationes 
Theologicw.  Vol.  iii.  p.  182. 


LECTURE  I.  19 

rejecting  the  doctrine,  out  of  the  book  of  Moses, 
and  urging  them  with  the  warning,  that  it  was  in 
consequence  of  their  ignorance  of  their  Scriptures 
that  they  held  false  views,  proves  that  there  was 
a  revelation  of  the  Resurrection  to  be  deduced 
from  those  Scriptures.  And  the  fact  of  the  Pha- 
risees believing  in  a  Resurrection  shews  the  same. 
Their  idea  of  the  Resurrection  doubtless  was  re_ 
stricted,  and  in  some  degree  erroneous.  Some 
only  believed  in  a  resurrection  of  the  just^      The 

'  Thus  Josepkus  of  the  Pharisees,  Antiq.  18,  2:  aai  ■ro7<:  fxev 
elpjuov  di'Ciov  Trpoa-Tadea-dai  to??  ci  paaTwvtjv  tov  a.vaj3i<7vv ;  and 
De  Bello  Judaico,  2,  12.  It  is  said,  however,  that  Josephus  is 
wrong  in  attributing  this  opinion  to  the  Pharisees,  by  Drusius, 
Knappe,  Kuinoel.    See  Blomjield,  Bee.  Spioptica,  on  Acts  xxiv.  15. 

That  the  souls  of  the  wicked  were  mortal  was  a  doctrine  held 
by  some  ancients.  Justin  Martyr  is  accused  of  holding  tliis  doc- 
trine, (^Dialog,  c.  Tryph.^  p.  Ill,  E  :  aWa.  ju/ji/  ou'Be  dirodvtia-Keiv 
(pr]fj.\  TraVa?  -rdv  \//-uT^a?.  ..a/  Se  {^Trovrjpmu  sc.)  KoXa'^oi/rat  ea-T  av 
avTo.^  KOI  elvai  Ka\  KoXd^eadai  d  Geo?  OeXei) ;  though  in  other  places 
he  speaks  of  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  being  everlasting. 
{Apolor/.  pp.  76,  91,  92).  Tatian  also  believed  that  the  soul  died 
with  the  body,  but  would  be  restored  with  it.  Oratio  contra 
Chroecos,  §  13:  dvtjaKet  p.ev  yap  koi  Xverai  fxen-d  tov  (TiafxaTO<i^  fxtj 
yivuxTKOvcra  Tr]v  aXtjdeiav^  dvla-Tarat  Se  ci?  \j<TT£pov  eir)  <TWTe\eia  tov 
kofffxov  avv  T(jp  (jajxaTi,  ddvuTov  Ciid  Tip.wp\a^  eu  ddavacria  XanfBdvovcru. 

Theophilus  ad  Autolycum,  Lib.  i.  §  7?  however,  speaks  of  this 
restoration  of  the  soul  to  the  body  in  similar  terms,  without  meaning 
that  in  the  interval  it  had  perished.  This  may  be  said  therefore 
in  a  different  sense  from  that  dogma  of  certain  Arabians  mentioned 
Euseh.  Eccl.  Hist.  vi.  37- 

Dupin  ascribes  to  Irenceus  similar  opinions,  and  refers  to 
Lib.  II.  c.  51,  59—64  ;  Lib.  iv.  c.  37  and  73  ;  Lib.  v.  c.  B2.  Ter- 
ttdlian,  de  Resurrect.  Cam.  c.  2,  relates  that  Lucanus,  a  disciple  of 
Marcion,  taught  the  death  of  the  soxil;  and  in  the  7th  cb.  of  the 
Prcescrip.  Hcereticorum,  he  says  the  doctrine  came  from  the  Epicu- 
reans. 

B  2 


20  LECTURE  I. 

Jews  believed,  most  generally,  says  Bishop  Pear- 
son, that  some  men  should  live  again,  and  some 
should  not ;  because,  in  the  book  of  Daniel  it  is 
written,  *  Many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of 
the  earth  shall  awake,'  and  not  all  shall  awake. 
S.  Paul,  arguing  before  Felix,  says  '  that  the  Jews 
allowed  there  should  be  a  resurrection  both  of  the 
just  and  of  the  unjust.'  Josephus'  says  that  'the 
Pharisees  believed  the  soul  immortal ;  that  the 
souls  of  good  men  only  passed  into  another  body  ; 
that  the  souls  of  the  wicked  are  punished  with 
eternal  punishment 2.'  From  such  testimonies  it  is 
clear  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Future  Life,  and 
the  Resurrection,  were  not  entirely  new^;  and  if 
we  come  to  enquire  how  men  may  have  obtained 
them,  we  find,  that  in  addition  to  those  dim  intima- 

Dr  Mackmgld  on  the  Epistles,  1  Thess.  iv.  16,  adopts  the  curious 
notion  that  the  bodies  of  the  wicked  will  be  destroyed  in  the  general 
conflaorration,  having  been  previously  raised  from  the  grave. 

'  \jyvyt]v  Ce  Traaav  fxev  acpOapTov,  fieTapa'iveiv  ce  eU  eTepou  awfxa 
T>}v  T(oi/  dyadwv  fj.6vr]v,  Ttjv  he  twi/  (pavXoov  aic'iM  Tijxuipia.  KoXd^effdau 
Josephus,  de  Bella  Judaico^  ii.  8,  14. 

*  The  Jews  who  had  no  express  revelation  of  that  matter,  did  yet 
believe  it  upon  a  constant  tradition  :  as  appears  from  all  their  writ- 
ings, and  particularly  from  the  translation  of  the  last  verse  of  the 
book  of  Job,  which  in  the  LXX.  runs  thus  :  '  So  Job  died,  being 
old  and  full  of  days ;  but  'tis  written  that  he  shall  rise  again,  with 
those  whom  the  Lord  raises  up.' — Dr  Samuel  Clarke^  Three  Prac- 
tical Essays,  p.  76,  6th  Ed.  1740. 

"  One  reason  against  its  being  popularly  held  among  the  Jews 
may  be  deduced  from  the  remark  of  St  Mark  (ix.  10),  that  the 
disciples  were  doubtful  of  the  meaning  of  the  words  ck  veKpuv 
dvatrTrjvai.  Being  unlearned  men  of  humble  origin,  it  is  probable 
that  the  speculations  of  the  more  educated  classes  were  unknown  to 
them. — See  Lecture  iv. 


LECTURE  I.  21 

tions  which  the  law  and  the  prophets  held  forth, 
and  which  it  is  needless  to  recapitulate,  it  may  be 
inferred  from  the  principles  of  natural  religion 
that  there  should  be  a  future  life.  And  this,  though 
it  does  not  lead  to  the  full  consequence  of  a  resur- 
rection of  the  body^  yet  certainly  is  no  small 
support  to  such  a  doctrine  when  it  is  once  con- 
ceived. Bishop  Sherlock  thus  argues  the  case  : 
*A11  men  have  some  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
and  of  their  being  accountable  for  the  things  done 
in  this  world,  which  account  not  being  taken  in 
this  world,  as  the  least  degree  of  observation 
enables  men  to  see,  they  conclude,  or  they  feel, 
from  the  very  force  of  reason  and  conscience,  that 
there  is  an  account  to  be  given  hereafter^.'    The 

'  Yet  Cardinal  Bellarraine,  Controversiw  Gencrales,  Tom.  ii. 
p.  566,  argues  that  the  immortality  of  the  soul  involves  the  idea  of 
a  resurrection  of  the  body:  'Apud  Judceos  olim  fuisse  usitatissimum 
habere  pro  eadem  qufestione,  illam  do  resurrectione,  et  illam  de  ani- 
morum  immortalitate. .  .cum  anima  Rationalis  sit  vera  forma  cor- 
poris, et  proinde  vera  pars  hominis,  non  est  verisimile,  Deum  voluisse 
animam  perpetuo  vivere  sine  corpora.' 

Pliocylidcs  has  some  singular  lines  (99,  100),  which  couple  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  with  the  notion  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul: 

Kai  Tci^a  o'  CK   ya'tri^  eXTri^ofxev  es  <pdo^  e\0e?v 
Aei\|/-ai/'  aTrot^ofxevoiv,   k.  t.  A. 
But  these  hexameters  are  generally  considered  a  forgery,  subsequent 
to  the  Christian  JEra,  and  not  the  production  of  the  ancient  Ionian 
poet. 

*  The  common  opinion  of  the  people  of  Rome  may  be  taken  from 
the  speech  of  Titus  Vespasian  to  his  soldiers :  '  Who  does  not  know 
that  the  souls  of  brave  men  when  set  free  by  the  sword  in  action, 
from  their  bodies,  are  received  and  kept  in  the  purest  element,  the 
air;  and  the  good  deities  and  propitious  heroes  shew  them  to  their 
own  offspring ;  but  the  souls  of  those  men  who  die  of  disease,  even 


22  LECTURE  I. 

darkness  in  which  such  an  opinion  is  involved 
without  revelation  is  no  doubt  very  great ;  but 
still  it  exists,  and  men  go  on  to  add  to  it.  Thus, 
the  rewards  and  punishments  which  they  naturally 
imagine  as  the  result  of  evil  or  good  conduct  in 
this  life,  were  generally  of  a  corpoi-eal^  nature,  and 
yet  they  saw  the  bodies  of  the  dead  dissolve  and 
perish.  This  involved  them  in  contradictions. 
Plutarch^,  writing  about  the  legend  of  the  disap- 
pearance of  Romulus,  gives  other  instances  in 
which  persons  who  disappeared  were  supposed  to 
have  been  translated,  and  he  proceeds  in  this 
manner :  '  There  are  many  unreasonable,  fabu- 
lous accounts,  which  carry  mortal  beings  into  the 
society  of  the  Gods.  To  suppose  that  virtue  is 
deprived  altogether  of  a  Divine  reward  would  be 
impious  and  illiberal ;  but  it  is  preposterous  to 
mix  what  is  earthly  with  what  is  heavenly.  This 
then  we  should  dismiss  from  our  minds;  but  hold 
fast  to  what  is  safely  believed,  according  to 
Pindar — "  To  all-subduing  death  man's  body  must 
submit,  but  ever  remains  the  living  image  of  eter- 
nity :  this  alone  comes  from  the  Gods ;" — thence 
is  its  origin  ; — thither  its  return  ; — not  with  the 
body,  but  when  it  is  freed  entirely  from  the  body, 

though  they  be  free  from  spot  or  stain,  disappear  in  the  darkness 
below,  or  arc  buried  in  deep  oblivion.' — Joscphus  de  Bello  Jndaico, 
VI.  1.  5.  p.  370. 

1  '  Animos  per  se  viventes  non  poteran  niente  complecti ;  for- 
mam  aliquam  figuramque  qua^rebant.' — Cicero,  Tusc.  Qiucst.  i.  16. 

*  Plutarch  in  Romulo.  Vita;  Parallelce.  Bryan's  Edition,  Vol. 
I.  p.  75.     See  Dissen's  Pindar.  Threni.  fragni.  n.  and  his  note. 


LECTURE  I.  23 

and  is  separated,  and  become  entirely  pure,  in- 
corporeal, holy.' 

Philosophy  thus  refined  upon  the  common 
notion  of  mankind,  and  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the 
absurdities  of  the  vulgar  Olympus  and  Tartarus, 
either  imagined  a  purely  spiritual  existence  after 
death — or  to  escape  from  the  physical  difficulties 
of  the  separate  existence  of  spirit,  denied  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  altogether — and,  in  this  man- 
ner, philosophy  threw  a  haze  of  infidelity  over  the 
common  notions  of  mankind'. 

^  To  deny  this  altogether,  and  to  shew  that  there  was  no  pre- 
valent opinion  of  a  future  state  among  the  heathen,  has  been  the 
object  of  some  modern  writers.  It  can  be  shewn,  no  doubt,  that  a 
great  number  of  those  who  reasoned  deeply  on  the  subject  (without 
a  revelation)  came  to  doubtful  conclusions,  but  this  does  not  shew 
that  the  prevalent  notion  among  the  vulgar  was  not  in  favour  of  a 
future  hfe.  Take  the  similar  case  of  the  doctrine  of  Providence. 
Philosophers  of  certain  schools  denied  the  interference  of  the  Gods  in 
the  affairs  of  men,  because  the  common  conception  was  full  of  dif- 
ficulties. Does  this  prove  to  us  that  the  mass  of  mankind  were  not 
under  the  impression  of  a  divine  supervision  of  human  occurrences  ? 
The  whole  record  of  the  past  leads  to  an  opposite  tendency,  and  we 
are  not  staggered  by  such  passages  as  those  of  Tacitus^  Annal.  vi.  : 
'Mihi  hasc  et  talia  audienti  in  incerto  judicium  est,  fato  ne  res  hu- 
manae  et  necessitate  immutabili,  an  forte  volvantur,  quippe  sapien- 
tissimos  veterum,  qui  eorum  sectam  femulantur,  diversos  reperies,  et 
multis  insitam  opinionem,  non  initia  nostra,  non  finem,  non  denique 
homines  diis  curje.'  And  it  seems  to  me  that  the  same  is  true  in  the 
case  of  the  doctrine  of  a  Future  Life. 

Dr  Thomas  Broicn,  Lectures  on  the  Human  Understanding^ 
Vol.  IV.  p.  498,  talks  of  the  certainty  that  all  men  hav«  of  being 
the  same  thinking  beings  at  the  end  of  the  year  as  they  were  at  the 
commencement,  and  says  they  would  laugh  at  the  philosopher  who 
should  urge  them  to  doubt  it ;  but  with  those  who  entertained  the 
objection  the  employment  of  technical  terms  would  render  obscure 
that  which  had  no  obscurity  till  it  was  darkened  with  language. 


S4  LECTURE  I. 

Naturally  men  have  a  presentiment  of  a  future 
life,  or  of  some  retribution  to  man,  as  man,  for  his 
deeds  done  in  the  body;  but  it  is  hard  to  see 
beyond  this  how  such  retribution  can  be  justly 
inflicted  on  the  man,  who  is  made  up  of  spirit, 
soul  and  body,  when,  of  these  elements,  certainly 
one,  the  body,  has  perished  and  disappeared. 
Hence,  probably,  the  doubt  and  hesitation  which 
struggled  with  the  moral  conviction,  and  which 
made  the  sanctions  of  a  future  life  ineffectual 
among  the  heathen  i.  Though  surely  we  are  en- 
titled to  take  account  of  the  prevalence  of  the 
general  belief  among  the  people^,  from  the  way  in 
which   in  tragic  poetry  the  agency  of  the  after- 

So  Bishop  Sherlock  says,  '  the  popular  belief  in  a  future  existence 
after  death,  was,  though  indefinite,  a  universal  and  popular  idea; 
and  it  was  only  when  philosophers  began  to  enquire  into  it,  that  it 
became  so  flimsy  that  it  was  easily  broken  through.' 

Now  we  may  well  accept  this  as  the  true  account  of  the  matter, 
that  the  obscure,  hazy,  floating  notion  which  prevailed  before  the 
Christian  religion  was  promulgated,  was  like  the  ghmmering  of  an 
ignis  fatuus,  but  yet  was  certainly  a  portion  of  the  belief  of  the 
vulgar,  and  that  it  got  refined  into  nothing  by  the  scepticism  of  the 
philosophical,  and  therefore  that  the  Christian  revelation  was  most 
certainly  one  which  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  in  a  full 
and  general  sense,  without  supposing  such  total  darkness  on  the 
subject  as  some  would  have  us  conclude. 

1  Although  perhaps  of  those  who  disbelieved  we  may  take  the 
account  of  Octavius  {^Minucius  Felix,  §  34),  'Non  ignore  plerosque 
conscientia  meritorum  nihil  se  esse  post  mortem  magis  optare  quam 
credere,  malunt  enim  pcnitus  extingui,  quam  ad  supplicia  reservari.' — 
See  Uierodes  on  the  Verses  of  Pythagoras,  p.  164.  dementis  Recog. 
Lib.  V.  fol.  95.     See  Gronovius  ed.  of  Minucius  Felix,  p.  359. 

*  Loiiginus  apud  Eusehii  Pra?p.  Ecang.  Lib.  xv.  p.  822,  ed. 
Paris:  ko'i  oJoe  tow  iroitjTdi  aia->^vuovfxeda,  oT,  Kaitrep  aKpiftt]  trvveaiv 
Twv  9cwu  ovK   ej(ovT(<;,  o/ioi?  ra   fxei>   ik  t  >;  ?    Koiutj':   e-rrivoiaK   twi' 


LECTURE  I.  25 

life  is  so  constantly  insisted  upon,  and  the  refer- 
ences to  those  below  are  so  many,  and  various, 
and  influential,  on  the  actions  of  the  personages 
represented  \  and  also  from  the  way  in  which 
philosophers  justify  sacred  rites  and  the  sanctity 

avO pwiriav,  TCt  Be  ef  linvoia^  Tmv  Mouo-w;/,  rj  KiveTu  avTov<;  eVi  TavTa 
7r6<pvKe,  crefjivoTepa  elpriKacri  irepi  avTOJu  (nempe  ypvywi'Y 

*  Dr  Thomas  Brown  in  his  Lectures  on  the  Human  Under- 
standing [following  out  the  ideas  of  Cicero  {Tusc.  Qxmst.  i.  14,  15), 
and  Tertullian  {De  Test.  Animce  ii.  5)]  shews  that  the  desire  of 
glory,  as  a  mere  emotion,  supposes  to  a  certain  degree  immortality 
of  the  human  being.  We  extend  into  futurity  the  conception  of  our 
consciousness,  and  this  is  in  some  degree  an  assumption  of  the  ques- 
tion. Now  nobody  can  deny  that  the  love  of  glory  was  most  cha- 
racteristic of  the  ancients;  and  it  would  seem  strange  if  in  their 
case  there  was  not  some  dim  connexion  between  this  feeling,  and 
a  consciousness  of  future  life  of  some  kind. 

The  same  author  has  beautifully  expressed  the  idea  one  naturally 
entertains  of  the  existence  of  the  thinking  principle,  after  death  has 
changed  our  bodies : 

'  If  our  material  frame  be  not  thoxight  itself,  but  only  that  which 
has  a  certain  relation  to  the  spiritual  principle  of  thought,  so  as  to  be 
subservient  to  its  feelings  and  volitions,  and  to  perform  the  beautiful 
functions  of  Kfe,  as  long  as  the  relation,  which  He  who  established  it 
made  to  depend  on  a  certain  state  of  the  corporeal  organs,  remains, 
it  is  as  little  reasonable  to  conclude  from  the  decay  or  change  of  place 
of  the  particles  of  the  organs  essential  to  the  mere  state  of  relative 
subserviency,  that  tlie  Spirit  united  with  those  organs  has  ceased  to 
exist,  as  it  would  be  to  conclude  that  the  musician  to  whom  we  have 
often  listened  with  rapture  has  ceased  to  exist,  when  the  strings  of 
his  instrument  are  broken  or  torn  away.  It  no  longer  indeed,  pours 
on  our  ear  the  same  delightful  melodies,  but  the  skill  which  poured 
from  it  those  melodies,  has  not  perished  with  the  delightful  sounds 
themselves,  nor  with  the  instrument  that  was  the  organ  of  enchant- 
ment. The  enchanter  himself  without  whom  the  instrument  would 
have  been  powerless,  exists  still,  to  produce  sounds  as  deliglitful ; 
and  in  the  intervals  of  melody,  the  creative  spirit,  from  which  the 
melody  originally  flowed,   can    delight   itself  with   remembered  or 


26  LECTURE  I. 

of  the  oath,  as  useful  K  If  Pericles  is  made  to  omit 
in  his  funeral  oration,  all  topics  of  consolation 
which  could  be  derived  from  the  knowledge  of  the 
future  state,  yet  we  may  surely  attribute  this 
to  the  scepticism  of  the  philosophical  historian, 
since  we  find  the  poet  of  the  Olympic  games  sug- 
gesting in  his  Cousolator'mm^,  the  fact  of  the  eter- 
nal living  shade  still  being  left,  and  there  being  a 
dispensation  of  rewards  and  punishments  to  men 
hereafter  according  to  their  deserts,  and  that  trea- 
tises of  rhetoric  make  the  reference  to  the  future 
state  a  commonplace  of  consolation  to  mourners^ 
It  has  been  said,  that  there  is  no  proof  that 
such  opinion*  of  a  future  life  (for  knowledge  it 

imagined  airs  which  exist  only  as  remembered  or  imagined,  and  are 
themselves,  as  it  were,  a  part  of  the  very  spirit  which  conceives 
them.' Dr  Brown,  Vol.  iv.  p.  492,  On  Immortality  of  the  Soul. 

1  Cicero  de  Lcgihus^  ii.  7-  '  Utiles  esse  autem  opiniones  has  quis 
neget,  cum  intelligat  quam  multa  firmentur  jurejurando,  qnantte 
salutis  sint  foederum  rcligiones ;  quam  multos  divini  supplicii  metus 
a  scelere  revocarit,'  SfC 

2  See  the  passage  quoted  above  in  the  extract  from  Plutarch^ 

p.  22. 

3  Bionysius  of  Halicarnassus  m  the  Ars  lihetorica,  c.  6.  Me'floSoc 

'E-mTU(}ylu3v,  §  5,  directs  the  orator  not  to  omit  tlie  proper  reference  to 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  eVi  -reXet  he  irepi  i^vx'h  dvayKuTov  elireTv 
oTi  dddvaro^  ko'i  on  toJ?  toiovtov;  iv  Qeoh  bv-ra^  afxeivov  fixo?  airaX- 
XaTTCiv. 

*  See  Mosheirns  conclusion  in  his  Latin  Notes  to  his  translation 
of  Ciidworth's  Intellectual  System,  Vol.  ii.  c.  5,  §  3,  'Disciplinam 
Reccntiorum  riatonicorum  magnam  partem  nil  esse  nisi  cumulum 
opinionum  popularium  ad  pra?cepta  philosophorum  veterum  Py- 
thawora  inprimis  ct  Platonis,  accommodatarum.'  Especially  he 
notfces  this  with  regard  to  opinions  about  the  soul,  and  lie  quotes 
Plotinus  as  maintaining  that  the  old  opinions  and  the  teaching  of  the 


LECTURE  I.  27 

could  certainly  not  be  called)  was  at  all  influential; 
I  fear  that  if  under  the  clearer  light  of  the  Gospel 
we  were  to  try  to  ascertain  how  influential  the 
constant  proclamation  of  the  future  life  and  the 
resurrection  are  in  reality,  we  should  scarcely  find 
the  result  produced,  corresponding  to  what  the 
certainty,  distinctness  and  positiveness  of  the  truth 
would  induce  us  to  expect :  men  now  cling  to  life 
present,  with  much  the  same  horror  of  the  future 
life  as  Homer  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Achilles  ^ 
who  prefers  the  meanest  lot  on  earth  to  the  glories 
of  Elysium — a  passage,  by  the  way,  which  Plato^ 
in  his  Republic,  proposes  to  expunge  from  the 
Odyssey,  as  unworthy  of  a  place  therein.  And  in 
such  cases  as  the  great  plague  at  Florence,  the 
reign  of  terror  in  France,  and  the  plague  of  Lon- 
don, we  have  records  of  recklessnes,  not  surpassed 
by  the  similar  records  of  the  desperation  of  men 
at  Athens  during  the  plague  ;  though  in  the  former 
cases  immortality  and  life   had  been  brought   to 

ancient  mysteries  were  always  to  be  preserved,  Ennead.  ii.  Lib.  ix. 
c.  6,  p.  704 ;  he  says  it  is  the  part  of  wise  men  to  be  eu/^ci'a)?  lix°~ 
Hevwv  TO.  tKe'wtiiv  m^  iraXatoTepwv  kui  a  KaAw?  Acyoi'cri  ■Trap  eKeivwv 
Xa^ovra^,  \|/u^t7''  ddavacriav,  votjrov  koo-jj-ov,  Qeov  tov  TrpwTOv,  &C. 
It  is  assumed  here  that  the  immortahty  of  the  soul  was  a  commonly 
received  tenet.  Plato  also,  in  Cratylo,  p.  263,  refers  to  the  popular 
view  of  the  immortality  of  good  men's  souls,  quoting  Hesiod.  Op. 
et  Dies,  121.  See  Maxlmus  Tyrius,  Diss.  xv.  and  .Ed.  Davisii, 
p.  553,  the  notes  on  the  chapter. 

1  Achilles'  complaint  {Odyssey,  X.  487 — 489)  is  more  like  the 
ridicule  of  Lucian,  than  the  noble  sentiments  of  Homer. — See  Lu- 
c'mn.  Dialog.  Mart.  xv.  1. 

2  Plato  de  Pepuhlica  iii.  §  1. 


28  LECTURE  I. 

light,  and  in  the  latter,  there  was  nothing  but  the 
hazy  indefinite  notion  of  a  future  life,  which  the 
human  conscience  suggested  without  any  help 
from  on  High  ;  and  if  it  is  shewn  that  Cicero, 
who  could  write  learnedly  about  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  yet  could  find  no  comfort 
when  his  daughter's  death  pressed  heavily  upon 
him,  in  the  thoughts  of  a  future  state^ ;  the  litera- 
ture of  the  last  century  will  shew,  that  in  a  Chris- 
tian country  there  was  much  the  same  kind  of 
neglect  of  consolation,  founded  on  higher  hopes, 
and  sanctioned  by  certain  knowledge. 

It  seems  quite  a  different  question  when  we 
attempt  to  shew  that  the  heathen  had  no  sufficient 
ground  for  their  belief,  or  persuasion,  or  opinion, 
whatever  it  may  be  most  properly  described. 
Those  who  maintain  that  there  was  a  general 
prevalent  notion  of  a  future  life  do  not  mean  that 
there  was  any  full  and  certain  knowledge  of  the 
subject,  but  that  there  was  on  this  point  a  general 
prevalence  of  prejudice  in  favour  of  the  doctrine 
of  a  Future  Life,  and  of  moral  retribution  here- 
after, which  enables  us  to  argue,  that  the  doc- 
trines of  Immortality  and  the  Resurrection  have  a 

*  Seneca  comforts  Polyhiiis  about  his  deceased  brother  dififerently, 
c.  28 :  '  Ne  invideris  fratri  tiio:  quiescit  tandem  tutus,  tandem  njtemus 
est  fruitur  nunc  apcrto  ct  libero  coelo ;  ex  humili  ct  depresso  in  eum 
emicuit  locum,  quisquis  ille  est,  qui  sohitas  vinculis  animas  beato 
recipit  sinu,'  &c.  See  also  his  letters  to  Jleli-ia,  c.  17;  Marcia,  c.  25. 
But  doubtless  he  could  write  differently,  and  speak  of  annihilation 
after  death. — Ep.  54  ad  Lucilium. — See  Gataker's  notes  on  Anto- 
ninus, p.  142. 


LECTURE  I.  29 

lurking  conscious  persuasion  to  appeal  to,  resident 
in  all  men's  breasts ;  and  in  this  way,  without  de- 
rogating at  all  from  the  undoubted  characteristic 
of  the  Gospel,  that  it  alone  exhibits  these  great 
doctrines  in  clear,  definite,  and  convincing  reality  ; 
yet,  we  may,  and  ought,  I  think,  to  maintain  that 
there  are  evident  traces  of  the  want  of  such  a 
revelation,  in  these  yearnings  of  man's  heart  be- 
fore the  Word  of  God  came.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Resurrection  of  the  Body  is  peculiarly  one  which 
meets  the  exigency  of  the  case,  as  we  discern  from 
Plutarch's  reflections  what  a  tendency  there  is 
in  men  to  transfer  bodily  qualities  to  the  spiritual 
state  ;  and  though  speculative  thinkers  may  arrive 
at  conclusions  on  the  subject  which  shall  satisfy 
them  that  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  part  of 
man  is  the  whole  man,  such  an  opinion  cannot 
sway  the  generality  of  mankind  in  a  religious 
sense,  and  is  therefore  defective. 

The  Jews,  however,  certainly  had  grounds  to 
infer  more  than  a  future  life.  They  might  have 
deduced,  by  the  aid  of  subsequent  prophecies — 
even  from  the  Mosaic  writings — that  there  should 
be  a  resurrection.  Nor,  in  asserting  this,  do  I  think 
I  am  at  all  venturing  on  the  great  field  of  con- 
troversy stirred  up  by  the  publication  of  the 
Divine  Legation  of  Moses.  Bishop  Warburton 
himself  allows  that  the  Resurrection  might  have 
been  inferred^.  He  only  maintains  that  it  is  not 
openly  taught :  he  grants  readily  that  the  later 
Jewish  prophets  had  given  strong  intimations  of 

^    Whatelys  Essay,  Rev.  of  a  Future  State,  p.  64. 


30  LECTURE  I. 

an  approaching  dispensation  with  a  future  state, 
from  which  those  Jews  who  believed  in  a  Resur- 
rection and  Future  Life  would  draw  their  conclu- 
sions. Whether  or  not  they  were  mistaken  in  sup- 
posing that  eternal  life  was  revealed  in  '  the  Scrip- 
tures,' it  is  clear,  on  our  Lord's  own  shewing,  that 
the  Jews  did  think  that  they  had  eternal  life  in 
these  Scriptures;  though  generally  it  must  be 
confessed,  that  they  arrived  at  no  definite  or  clear 
conclusion,  worthy  of  the  subject  on  which  their 
speculations  were  brought  to  bear. 

Upon  such  uncertainties  as  these  comes  the 
flood  of  Divine  light  in  the  Gospel. 

Jesus  Christ  our  Redeemer  brings  life  and 
immortality  to  light — clears  up  the  doubts  of  a 
Future  State,  by  revealing  the  Resurrection  of  the 
Body,  and  by  abolishing  death,  which  created  all 
the  difficulty  \  restores  the  knowledge  that  men 

^  This  is  an  expression  of  Bishop  Sherlock.  There  Is  a  fine 
passage  In  St  Chrysostoms  Sermon  on  1  Cor.  xv.  27,  which  expresses 
clearly  the  connexion  between  the  victory  over  death  and  the  resur- 
rection: 'But  if  bodies  do  not  rise  again,  how  are  those  things  true? 
For  the  worst  enemy  of  all,  death,  remains ;  having  wrought  what- 
ever he  listed.  "  Nay,"  saith  one,  "  for  they  shall  sin  no  more,"  and 
what  of  that  ?  For  he  is  not  discoursing  here  of  the  death  of  the 
soul,  but  of  that  of  the  body  ?  How  then  is  he  put  down  ?  for  victory 
is  this,  the  winning  of  those  things  which  have  been  carried  off  and 
detained.  But  if  men's  bodies  are  to  be  detained  in  the  earth,  it 
follows  that  the  tyranny  of  death  remains,  these  bodies  for  their  part 
being  holden,  and  there  being  no  other  body  for  him  to  be  vanquished 
in.  But  if  this  which  S.  Paul  spake  of,  ensue,  as  undoubtedly  it 
will  ensue,  God's  victory  will  appear,  and  that  a  glorious  one,  in  His 
being  able  to  raise  again  the  bodies  which  were  holden  thereby.  Since 
an  enemy  too  is  then  vanquished,  when  a  man  takes  the  spoils,  not 
when  he  suffers  them  to  remain  in  the  other's  possession :  but  unless 


LECTURE  I.  31 

had  of  a  general  accountability,  and  also  restores 
the  capacity  for  rendering  the  account. 

Death  came  into  the  world  through  sin — when, 
then,  sin  is  abolished  and  death  destroyed,  human 
nature  is  restored  to  the  original  condition  in 
which  it  was  before  the  Fall ;  and  the  faint  and 
glimmering  hopes  of  immortality,  which,  in  the 
fallen  state,  were  left  as  witnesses  for  God  in  the 
human  breast  are  now  replaced  by  certain  know- 
ledge, full  assurance  of  faith  in  the  Resurrection 
to  eternal  life. 

Thus,  through  the  Incarnation,  the  inheritance 
of  incorruptibility  is  restored  to  man'.    For  this 

one  venture  to  take  what  is  his,  how  can  we  say  that  he  is  van- 
quished ?  After  this  manner  of  victory  doth  Christ  Himself  say  in 
the  Gospels,  that  he  hath  been  victorious,  thus  speaking,  when  he 
shall  bind  the  strong  man,  then  shall  he  also  spoil  his  goods.  Since 
if  this  were  not  so,  it  would  not  be  at  all  a  manifest  victory.  For  as 
in  the  death  of  the  soul,  he  that  is  dead  is  freed  from  sin  (and  yet 
we  cannot  say  that  this  is  a  victory,  for  he  is  not  the  victor  who 
adds  no  more  to  his  wickedness,  but  he  who  hath  done  away  the 
former  captivity  of  his  passions),  just  so  in  this  instance  also,  I  should 
not  call  death's  being  stayed  from  feeding  on  the  bodies  of  men  a 
splendid  victory,  but  rather  that  the  bodies  heretofore  holden  by  him 
should  be  snatched  away  from  him.' — Oxford  Translation,  p.  562. 

^  Julius  Firmicus  de  Errore  prof.   Religiormm,  p.  453,  iv.  5. 
Ed.  Gronovii:  '  Per  virginem  Mariam  ac  Spiritum  Sanctum  Christus 

natus  et  immortalitatem  accepit  et  regnum Christus  Deus  cal- 

cata  morte  ad  coelum  homlnem  quern  susceperat  revocat...Nam  post 
multa  tempera  verbum  Dei  humane  se  miscuit  corpori,  ut  hominem 
liberaret,  ut  mortem  vinceret,  ut  fragilltatem  humani  corporis  cum 
divina  immortilitate  conjungeret ;'  and  Strauss  says  in  the  Lehen  Jesu, 
'  The  reconciliation  of  mankind  to  the  Creator  through  the  Incarna- 
tion was  so  strongly  perceived  to  be  the  main  idea  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, that  Kant  argues  that  the  Incarnation  was  a  myth  invented  in 
order  to  represent  this.' 


32        *  LECTURE  I. 

cause,  as  we  read  in  the  Epistle  for  the  day,  He 
is  the  mediator  of  the  New  Testament ;  that  by- 
means  of  death,  for  the  redemption  of  the  trans- 
gressions that  were  under  the  first  testament,  they 
which  are  called  might  receive  the  promise  of 
eternal  inheritance.  When  God  now  owns  as  his 
children  those  who  have  passed  from  our  bodily 
sight,  it  is  that,  all  being  present  to  Him,  and 
accepted  in  the  Beloved,  He  looks  upon  them 
already  as  restored,  living,  the  sons  of  God,  as 
having  laid  hold  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  eaten  thereof, 
and  obtained  the  blessed  result,  promised  by  our 
Lord  to  all  that  eat  the  Bread  of  Life,  and  drink 
of  the  water  that  He,  the  Lord  of  the  new  crea- 
tion, gives. 

'  He  that  eateth  of  this  Bread  shall  live  for  ever ; 
I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day.' 

'  He  that  drinketh  of  the  Water  that  I  shall 
give  him  shall  never  thirst ;  but  it  shall  be  in  him 
a  well  of  water,  springing  up  into  eternal  life.' 

In  the  old  dispensation  they  saw  these  things 
afar  off;  in  the  new,  they  are  seen  clearl}^  and 
apprehended  distinctly  by  faith  ;  and  hereafter,  in 
the  actual  fruition  of  the  Godhead,  we  shall  see 
face  to  face,  and  apprehend  that  for  which  we  have 
been  here  apprehended.  Thus,  a  dim,  indistinct 
foreboding  of  a  future  life  is  succeeded  by  a  clear 
knowledge  of  it,  and  is  to  be  finally  followed  by 
actual  enjoyment  thereof  '  As  in  Adam  all  die, 
so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive.'  Made  sons 
of  God,  members  of  Christ,  and  inheritors  of  the 


LECTURE  I.  S3 

kingdom  of  heaven,  we  shall  realise  in  all  its 
extent  the  truth,  that  God  is  the  God  of  the  living 
and  not  of  the  dead,  if  we  cling  to  the  life  im- 
parted to  us  in  the  new  creation,  and  do  not 
relapse  into  the  deadly  state  of  sin  and  godless 
apathy. 

And  as  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  and  thereby 
ensured  to  us  our  resurrection,  so  ought  we  now 
to  walk  in  newness  of  life.  Let  us  take  heed 
that  we  do  this  daily^ — our  present  life  is  as  it  were 
the  childhood  of  a  limitless  manhood.  Futurity, 
in  its  grand  and  comprehensive  sense,  should  ever 
be  present  to  our  minds,  with  the  solemn  convic- 
tion that  the  tints  of  the  scene  that  awaits  us  are 
now  being  painted  in  by  our  own  hands.  If  all 
our  energies  are  wasted  in  the  empty  and  fast- 
fading  attractions  of  life  present,  the  picture  beyond 
is  nothing  but  a  dreary  blank,  and  thoughts  of  it 
must  be  dark  and  depressing ;  but  if  we  will  now, 
by  the  help  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  rise  to  higher 
and  holier  aims,  if  now  we  mould  our  faculties, 
and  form  ourselves  for  the  state  in  which  all  that 
is  carnal,  terrestrial,  is  done  away;  then,  bright 
and  glorious  are  the  anticipations  we  may  form — 
and,  through  Him  who  is  the  Resurrection  and 
the  Life,  we  shall  pass  into  the  Divine  Presence  to 
those  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them 
that  love  Him — things  that  eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  ear  heard,  and  the  conception  of  which  has 
never  yet  entered  into  man's  heart. 

H.  L.  c 


LECTURE    II 


1  CORINTHIANS    XV.   44. 

There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body. 

T^IM  was  the  revelation  of  a  resurrection  under 
-^-^  the  elder  covenant  of  God  with  man,  and 
dark  and  doubtful  the  conclusions  to  which  un- 
enlightened Reason  led  the  enquirer.  But  there 
was  yet  a  glimmering  of  the  truth — that  all  man- 
kind must  stand  at  the  bar  of  an  unerring  Judge, 
and  hereafter  hear  the  sentence  of  approval  or 
condemnation  for  the  deeds  done  in  the  body. 

The  jEra  of  our  Redemption  is  the  coming 
forth  in  clear  and  distinct  tones  of  the  message 
from  on  High,  to  give  solid  grounds  for  this  wa- 
vering persuasion  ;  and,  while  pointing  out  the 
way  to  escape  wrath  to  come,  to  bring  us  in 
awful  exactness,  and  with  certainty,  the  tidings 
of  our  own  personal  Individual  Resurrection  to 
an  endless  life  of  happiness,  or  of  misery. 

In  reading  the  New  Testament,  to  learn  from 
it  what  God  has  been  pleased  to  reveal  to  us,  we 
must  keep  in  mind  that  it  never  could  be  the  in- 
tention of  these  writings  to  refer  to  philosophical 
difficulties,  or  to  meet  the  captious.  Though  it 
be  true  that  the  wise  are  taken  in  their  own 
craftiness,  and  there  are  deep  things  of  God  neces- 

C  2 


36  LECTURE   II. 

sarily  involved   in   the  Divine  message,    yet  the 
Bible  in  its  practical  teaching,  and  in  all  those 
didactic   parts  which    specially    are  meant  to  in- 
fluence the  conduct  and  disposition  of  men,   must 
be  taken  as  a  plain  book,  addressed  to  men  of 
ordinary  capacity.     They  who  will  be  wise  in  all 
things  relating  to  the   spiritual,   and  the  future, 
which  are  beyond  the  ordinary  limits  of  human 
cognizance,  must  not  forget  that  S.  Paul  tells  the 
Corinthians,  that  not  many  wise  men  were  called, 
while  the  '  common  people  heard  Christ  gladly  ;' 
and  the  application  of  this  to  our  present  subject 
is,  that  the  declarations  of  holy  Scripture  on  the 
facts  of  a  Resurrection,  must  be  received  as  they 
were  written,  in  their  plain,  simple,  natural  sense. 
All  mankind  are  to  be  restored  again  to  life — and 
this  life  is  to  be  in  the  body.     *  The  hour  is  coming 
in  the  which  all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear 
his  voice,  and  shall  come  forth  ;  they  that  have 
done  good  unto  the  resurrection  of  life,  and  they 
that   have    done    evil    unto     the   resurrection   of 
damnation '  (S.  John  v.  29,  30) ;  and  S.  Paul,  in  a 
passage  quoted  before   (Acts  xxiv.  15),  expresses 
his   concurrence  in  the  general  expectation  of  a 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  'both  of  the  just  and 
unjust.'    It  has  been  said,  that  these  are  the  only 
two   places  of   the  New  Testament    where  it    is 
distinctly  and  expressly  asserted,  that  the  Resur- 
rection of  the  body  shall  include  both  just  and 
unjust.     But  the  doctrine  is  referred  to  in  many 
other  parts  of  Scripture,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to 


LECTURE  II.  37 

shew  that  it  was  generally  taught  and  believed  in 
the  time  of  the  writers.  It  is  involved  also  in  the 
idea,  that  human  nature  is  restored  by  the  In- 
carnation ;  for  in  this  sense  it  may  be  true  that 
'  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  all  men,  specially  of 
them  that  believe ;'  and  as  S.  Paul  writes  to 
Timothy,  that  God  is  quickening  or  regenerating 
(^looyovouvTo^)  '  the  whole  of  the  creation.'  (See 
Rom.  viii.  19 — 22.)  In  consequence  of  the  In- 
carnation and  Resurrection  of  Christ,  death,  and 
he  that  had  the  power  of  death,  are  destroyed — 
the  element  of  incorruptibility  is  restored  to  all  the 
sons  of  men.  After  this  resurrection,  the  second 
death,  spoken  of  by  S.John,  is  the  portion  of  the 
wicked,  and  everlasting  life  the  portion  of  the  just. 

We  have  on  the  present  occasion  to  insist  on 
the  manner  in  which  the  Scripture  speaks  of  the 
Resurrection — the  way  in  which  it  is  to  be  ac- 
complished. 'It  is,'  says  S.  Paul  (Rom.  viii.  11), 
*  a  quickening  of  our  mortal  bodies ;'  ([oDOTroiijaei  Kal  rd 
6i>t]Td  aw/aaTa  v/ulwu.  These  words  Calvin  restricts  to 
the  sanctification  of  believers  ;  but  almost  all  other 
expositors  agree  in  reading  here  a  reference  to 
the  resurrection — so  that  it  is  this  mortal  body 
which  is  to  be  quickened,  or  restored  to  life. 

Adopting  strictly  the  idea  herein  contained, 
theologians  have  too  positively  asserted,  that  it  is 
absolutely  necessary,  for  the  verification  of  the 
Divine  Promise,  that  the  very  same  substance 
which  constituted  the  human  body  at  the  time  of 
its    dissolution,    should   be   re-collected,   and    the 


38  LECTURE  n. 

corporeal  frame  be  reconstructed  out  of  the  par- 
ticles which  have  turned  into  dust. 

Thus,  Bishop  Pearsoni :  '  Whatsoever  we  lose 
in  death  is  not  lost  to  God ;  as  no  creature  could 
be  made  out  of  nothing  but  by  Him,  so  can  it 
not  be  reduced  unto  nothing  but  by  the  same  ; 
though  therefore  the  parts  of  the  body  of  man  be 
dissolved,  yet  they  perish  not ;  they  lose  not  their 
own  entity  when  they  part  with  their  relation  to 
humanity ;  they  are  laid  up  in  the  secret  places, 
and  lodged  in  the  chambers  of  nature ;  and  it  is 
no  more  a  contradiction  that  they  should  become 
the  parts  of  the  same  body  of  man  to  which  they 
did  belong,  than  that  after  his  death  they  should 
become  the  parts  of  any  other  body,  as  we  see 
they  do.  Howsoever  they  are  scattered,  or  where- 
soever lodged,  they  are  within  the  knowledge 
and  power  of  God,  and  can  have  no  repugnancy, 
by  their  separation,  to  be  reunited  when  and  how 
he  pleaseth.'  And,  after  giving  reasons  for  the 
necessity  of  the  raising  again  of  the  same  flesh — 
from  the  words  of  Scripture,  from  the  use  of  the 
word  resurrection,  from  the  assertion  that  this 
resurrection  is  out  of  the  grave,  from  the  nature 
of  just  retribution  in  the  judgment,  from  the  fact 
of  certain  men  not  dying  but  being  translated, 
and  from  actual  examples  of  dead  men  raised  to 
life  miraculously  already — he  concludes,  by  as- 
serting, that  '  the  same  flesh  which  is  corrupted 
shall  be  restored:  whatsoever  alteration  shall  be 
'  Exposition  of  the  Cre^d,  Vol.  i.  pp.  631^  648. 


LECTURE  11.  39 

made  shall  not  be  of  their  nature,  but  of  their 
condition  ;  not  of  their  substance,  but  of  their 
qualities.' 

And  Dr  Barrow^ :  '  It  is  congruous  in  justice 
that  the  bodies  which  did  partake  in  works  of 
obedience  and  holiness,  or  of  disobedience  and 
profaneness  (which,  in  S.  Paul's  language,  "  were 
either  slaves  to  impurity  and  iniquity,  or  servants 
of  righteousness  unto  sanctification,")  should  also 
partake  in  suitable  recompences  ;  that  the  body 
which  endured  grievous  pains  for  righteousness, 
should  enjoy  comfortable  refreshments  ;  that 
which  wallowed  in  unlawful  pleasures  should  un- 
dergo just  torments.' 

And  Grotius^:  'Christ  has  promised  eternal 
life,  not  only  to  the  soul,  but  to  the  body ;  and 
most  justly;  for  the  body,  which  for  the  Divine 
law  must  often  suffer  inconvenience,  tortures, 
and  death,  should  not  be  without  a  recompense. 
Who  can  say  that  God  is  ignorant  of  the  places, 
distant  from  one  another  though  they  be,  where 
are  the  parts  of  the  substance  of  human  bodies, 
or  that  He  has  not  the  power  to  bring  them  back, 
and  recompose  and  do  the  same  in  His  universe 
which  the  chemist  can  do  in  his  laboratory,  viz. 
to  collect  together  things  which  have  affinity, 
though  they  be  separate  V 

And  Whitby^:   'I  argue  for   the  resuiTection 

1  On  the  Creed,  Art.  Resurrection  of  the  Dead. 

^  De  Veritate  ReUgionis  Christiance,  Lib.  ii.  §  11. 

3  Preface  to  Commentary  07i  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 


40  LECTURE  II. 

of  the  same  body  thus  :  If  the  Scripture  teacheth 
that  there  shall  be  a  quickening,  by  raising  up  our 
mortal  bodies ;  a  redemption  by  the  resurrection 
of  our  bodies  ;  a  changing  of  our  bodies  at  and 
by  the  resurrection  into  the  likeness  of  Christ's 
glorious  body;  it  seems  sufficiently  to  say  that 
there  shall  be  a  resurrection  of  that  which  before 
was  mortal ;  and  a  change  by  it  of  the  same  body 
which  was  vile  or  humble ;  and  a  redemption  by 
it  from  corruption  of  the  same  body  which  was 
formerly  in  bondage  to  corruption  ;  for  all  this 
must  be  said  of  the  same  body,  or  not  of  the 
same  body ;  if  of  the  same  body,  then  the  same 
body  must  be  raised ;  and  if  not  of  the  same 
body,  then  of  another  ?  And  how  then  is  it  said 
of  our  body  ?  How  can  those  other  bodies  be 
TO.  6vr}Ta  awfxara  vixoov,  1/our  mortal  bodies ?  How 
can  the  redemption  of  them  be  tov  awtxaro?  vfxwvl 
the  change  of  them,  the  change  tov  o-toVaro?  raTret- 
vwaews  jJmwv,  of  our  mortal  vile  bodies?' 

And  Archbishop  Tillotson  :  *  I  take  the  article 
of  the  resurrection  in  the  strictest  sense  for  the 
raising  of  a  body  to  life,  consisting  of  the  same 
individual  matter  that  it  did  before.' 

It  is  needless  to  do  more  than  refer  to  the 
names  and  passages  of  ancient  Christian  writers 
who  have  held  the  same^  or  to  multiply  instances 

*  Sti  dementis  Ep.  n.  ad  CorintJiios,  §  9.  Hernias.  Simil. 
V.  §  7-  TertulUan.  Apol.  §  48.  Mlnucii  Fel.  Octav.  p.  79-  Sti 
Augustini  Sermo  CCLVI.  in  diebus  Pasckalilus,  §  2,  ed.  Benedict. 
Tom.  VII.  pp.  1055,  6.     aS'^  Chrysostom,  Homily  xlii.  on  1  Cor.  xv. 


LECTURE  II.  41 

in  which  orthodox  writers  in  the  Church  have 
maintained  the  necessity  of  the  revivification  of 
the  same  body  which  died,  from  the  earliest 
times  to  the  present.  It  is  well  known  that  such 
was  ever  reputed  a  necessary  part  of  our  belief. 
The  opposition  to  it  which  arose  in  past  ages  was 
on  different  grounds  from  what  we  now  hear  al- 
leged. The  opinion  of  the  inferiority  of  the  body, 
which  ancient  reasoners  held,  was  the  chief  ob- 
jection against  admitting  the  tenet  of  its  recon- 
struction for  an  eternal  future  life ;  and  this 
opinion  they  held  in  common  with  the  ancient 
philosophers,  who  would  not  allow  that  the  body 
was  at  all  necessary  to  individuality.  They 
thought  the  body  the  prison  of  the  soul ;  that  it 
w^as  a  punishment  to  be  tied  unto  it^.  They  said, 
We  in  reality  are  dead,  and  our  body  is  a  tomb. 
Some  say  that  the  body  is  the  tomb  of  the  soul, 
as  if  the  soul  were  now  buried  in  it ;  and  Socrates, 
in  the  Gorgias^,  repeats  the  same.     Sextus  Em- 

Lii.  §  13.  (p.  599,  Oxf.  Translation).  aS'^.  Ati^ustin,  Sermo  cclxiv. 
ill  die  Ascensionis,  §  5,  Tom.  vii.  p,  1078.  Idem,  de  Civitate  Dei^ 
Lib.  XXII.  c.  20.  Symbolum  Damasi,  p.  14  in  the  Sylloge  Confes- 
sionum.  Sophronms  apud  Photimn^  ccxxxi.  in  his  Synodical  Letter. 
Exordium,  to  the  Canons  of  the  Council  of  Worms,  a.d.  868. 

*  'Corpus  hoc  animi  pondus  et  poena  est,  permanente  illo  urgetur, 
in  vinculis  est.' — Seneca,  Ep.  65. 

Kai  »;/jie?9  tw  ovti  Tcdi/aineu,  Ka\  to  fxev  (Tbi[xa  ia-Ttv  tj/xwy  (rfjfia.-— 
Jamhlichus  Protrept.  Adh.  c.  17. 

Ka(  yap  (ri]fxa  Tii/e?  (pa<7iv  avTo  eli/ai  Ttj<;  x^i^i^j;?,  to?  Teda/Ufxevt]^  ev 
Tw  vvv  7r«(Uo'i/Ti, — Plato  in  Cratylo,  p.  275,  E. 

And  other  passages  are  quoted  in  Suicer's  Thesaurus,  ii.  1212. 

*  §  104,  Ed.  Heindorf. — Sextus  Empiricus,  iii.  24.  Clem.  Alex. 
Stromata,  iii.  p.  434. 


42  LECTURE   II. 

piricus  and  Clement  of  Alexandria  quote  He- 
raclitus  as  affirming,  that  during  life  the  human 
soul  was  dead  and  buried  within  us,  but  that  at 
death  our  souls  should  revive  and  live^ 

Now  men  who  entertained  such  opinions  as 
these  were  of  course  ready  to  mock  when  a 
stranger  coming  among  them  preached  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead^:  the  idea  was  hateful 
to  them  :  and  the  philosophical  among  the  Jews 
seem  to  have  held  the  same,  or  similar  opinions, 
of  the  unworthiness  of  the  body, — acting  as  if  it 
were  a  clog  to  the  soul.  The  Son  of  Sirach  says, 
*The  corruptible  body  presseth  down  the  soul,  and 
the  earthly  tabernacle  weigheth  down  the   mind 

^  There  is  a  curious  passage  in  Athencvus  (Deifmosop/nstaru7n, 
Lib.  IV.  c.  45,  Vol.  ii.  p.  102,  Schiceigh.\  where  Carneius  argues 
against  suicide  from  fear  of  the  penalty  of  a  future  life,  as  being 
commonly  held.  Carneius  says  to  Nic'wn :  ' Euxitheus  the  Pytha- 
gorean (as  Clearchus  the  Peripatetic  reports  in  his  second  Book  of 
Lives)  used  to  say  that  men's  souls  were  tied  to  the  body  and  to  the 
earthly  life,  for  a  penalty :  and  that  God  had  decreed  that  if  they 
would  not  remain  there,  till  he  spontaneously  set  them  free,  they 
should  fall  into  more  numerous  and  more  grievous  calamities.  There- 
fore all  men,  fearing  these  threats  of  the  Gods,  fear  to  go  unbidden 
out  of  this  life,  and  await  graciously  the  death  of  old  age,  being 
persuaded  that  that  liberation  of  the  soul  takes  place  with  the  will 
of  the  Gods.'  Casaubon's  note  on  this  passage  is  this:  'There  was 
an  opinion  of  many  ancient  philosophers  that  the  soul  was  contained 
in  the  present  body  as  in  an  Ergastulum,  and  on  that  account  called 
Se'jua?  from  oeBejuei/oi/,  and  life  /3io?,  quasi  j3ia  by  force.'  Themistius. 
TovTO  'yo.p  cena<;  KaXova-iv  co?  0666juei/»y?  vtt  avTOV  Tr]<:  \lyvyrj<:  evravOa 
irapd  (hv<Tiv.  ovcev  jap  ev  w  irecpvKev  elvai,  KaTej^erat  /3iot.  koi  to 
Zehea-dai  Ttjv  re  (i'lav  Tavrrjv  7rapnjdyovT€<:  lovofxaa-av  (i'lov^  uia-irep 
olfxai  Tfji/  e<nrepav"Onripov  ea-Trepov. 

"  See  Origen.  c.  Celsum.  1.     Arnoh.  ii.  p.  42.     Lucian.  in  Pere- 
grin, cp.  PUn.  VII.  55.     Minucius  F.  pp.  96,  07- 


LECTURE  II.  43 

which  museth  upon  many  things.'  S.  Paul  refers 
to  the  same  idea  in  writing  to  the  Corinthians 
when  he  speaks  of  the  burden  of  the  body.  And 
the  general  objection  made  to  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  on  this  ground  it  is  his  object  to  meet 
in  that  portion  of  Holy  Scripture  from  which  the 
text  is  taken. 

He  here  asserts  that  a  change  passes  upon  the 
body  at  its  rising  again,  and  that  it  is  no  longer 
to  be  liable  to  those  infirmities  which  made  its 
revivification  an  intolerable  idea. 

The  objections,  however,  which  men  had  felt 
were  not  silenced  by  this  exposition  of  the  Apo- 
stle, and  others  gradually  were  brought  forward. 

We  find  Celsus^  affirming,  that  those  who  have 
died  in  old  time  should  put  on  again  their  own 
same  flesh  out  of  the  earth  is  a  hope  of  worms, 
most  hateful  and  abhorrent,  as  well  as  a  thing 
impossible.  God  cannot  do  ai^xpa,  things  dis- 
graceful ;  He  will  not  do  that  which  is  against 
nature ;  and  God  neither  would  nor  could  exhibit 
again,  in  an  irrational  manner,  that  flesh  which 
abounds  in  defects  not  fit  even  to  be  mentioned^. 

Marcus  Antoninus^  more  modestly  asserts  that, 
if  it  were  just,  it  would  not  be  impossible:  but 
he  argues  on  the  assumption  of  there  being  no 
such  thing  against  its  justice;    and  justifies  the 

^  Apud  Origenem,  Lib.  v.  p.  240. 

^  See  S.  Atigustin.  Sermo  ccxLii.  in  diehus  Paschalibus,  §  7j — 
he  ascribes  to  Porphyry  the  saying  '  Corpus  est  omne  fugiendum.' 
3  M.  A.  Antonim  Meditationes,  Lib.  xii.  5  5. 


44  LECTURE  II. 

eternal  destruction  of  the  body  in  death  as  a 
determination  of  the  Gods. 

AtJienagoras,  in  his  treatise  De  Besurrectione 
Mortuorum,  shews  us  adversaries  who  enlarged 
the  sphere  of  their  objections.  The  impossibility 
of  the  resurrection  was  then  grounded  not  only 
on  its  being  unjust,  or  unworthy  of  the  Deity, 
but  because  the  parts  of  man  might  form  the  parts 
of  other  animals,  and  possibly  of  other  men 
also — an  objection  which  is  not  only  noticed  by 
this  author,  but  also  by  S.  Augustine,  in  the  22nd 
Book  of  the  City  of  God. 

And  3Ii)iucius  Felix  represents  Caecilius  as 
ridiculing  the  idea  of  supposing  a  general  de- 
struction of  the  visible  system  of  the  universe,  and 
yet  maintaining  a  promise  of  eternal  duration  to 
those  who  have  now  died  and  perished \ 

Ancient  heretics,  as  well  as  heathen  philo- 
sophers and  opponents  of  Christianity,  seem  to 
have  held  the  same  opinion  as  to  the  impossibility 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  body^     In  recounting 

'  Minucii  Felicis  Octavms,  c.  11,  Ed.  Gronov.  p.  108. 

*  They  also  held  that  the  resurrection  was  spiritual  only,  and 
meant  the  being  delivered  from  sins.  Thus  S.  Chri/sostom  represents 
the  doctrine  of  the  Manicliees.  Sermon  on  1  Cor.  xv.  3,  and  S.Au- 
gustin.  contra  Fausttim,  Lib.  iv.  adjinem^  Lib.  xi.  c  3. 

They  said  (-S".  Augnst'in.  de  Hcvrcs.  §  46),  '  Christ  did  not  come 
to  deliver  bodies,  but  the  souls  of  men.'  See  Epiphanius,  Lxvr.  §  86, 
87-  Their  arguments,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Gnostics,  were  derived 
from  the  corrupt  nature  of  all  material  substance.  See  note  of  trans- 
lator of  S.  Chrysostonis  Homilies  on  1  Corinth.  Oxford  Translation, 
p.  .')r)2,  who  explains  clearly  the  argument  used  by  S.  Paul,  as  ap- 
plied by  S.  Chrysostom  to  the  Manicliees  :  '  If  the  word  resurrection 


LECTURE  II.  45 

the  errors  of  the  Marcionites,  Irenseus  (i.  29)  says 
that  they  taught  their  adherents  that  future  sal- 
vation was  of  the  soul  only,  and  that  the  body 
forsooth  could  not  possibly  share  in  this  salvation 
because  it  was  formed  of  the  dust  of  the  ground. 
Among  the  Basilidian  tenets  likewise  was  this : 
that  the  soul  alone  could  be  saved  ;  for  the  body 
by  its  own  nature  is  corruptible  (Iren.  i.  23). 
Against  this  opinion  of  the  impossibility  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  from  the  nature  of  things, 
Irenaeus  argues  in  his  fifth  book,  and  alleges  that 
it  is  heretical  to  maintain  that  the  body  is  not 
capable  of  being  made  incorruptible  ('  carnem 
non  esse  capacemincorruptibilitatis'),  because  the 
Body  of  Christ  is  communicated  to  all  the  faithful. 
The  Gnostic  heretics  would  all,  more  or  less,  have 
rejected  the  idea  of  resurrection  in  consequence 
of  the  character  which  they  attributed  to  all 
material  substance. 

At  the  time  of  the  Reformation  the  Anabap- 
tists and  Libertines  denied  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  after  death,  restraining  it  to  a  spiritual 
sense,  of  the  resurrection  from  sin  to  a  state  of 
grace  ;  and  they  maintained  that  this  resurrection 
only  is  meant  in  diverse  passages  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, together  with  the  life  of  the  soul,  which  they 
allowed   to   be    immortal.      They    said    that  the 

means  only  liberation  from  sin,  the  resurrection  of  Christ  and  our 
resurrection  are  no  longer  terms  implying  one  another,  as  S.  Paul 
evidently  uses  them,  1  Cor.  xv.  18.  For  Christ  by  his  divine  nature 
cannot  sin ;  it  doth  not  therefore  follow^  that  if  we  be  not  raised, 
Christ  is  not  risen.' 


46  LECTURE    II. 

resurrection  was  past  already,  as  did  Hymenseus 
and  Philetus  (2  Tim.  ii.  17,  18),  and  that  the 
soul  was  an  immortal  spirit  existing  in  heaven 
for  ever,  as  Calvin  tells  us  in  his  Instructio  Ad- 
versus  Lihertinos,  c.  22.  And  Peter  Martyr^  also 
informs  us  that  they  referred  the  resurrection  to 
the  souls  of  men  only^. 

In  more  modern  times  the  objection  to  the 
resurrection  of  the  same  body  that  died  has  been 
made  to  depend  on  the  constant  change  going  on 
in  men;  so  that  it  is  said  in  a  short  period  of 
time  all  the  particles  of  the  system  have  disap- 
peared, and  been  replaced  by  others ;  and  there- 
fore, that  the  restoration  of  the  same  body  that 
died  cannot  be  any  answer  to  the  objection  made 
in  old  times  of  the  injustice  of  a  man  sinning 
in  one  body,  and  being  punished  in  another.  If, 
it  is  said,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church, 
justice  demands  that  the  same  body  should  be 
raised  which  formed  part  of  the  man,  while  on 
earth  he  obeyed  or  transgressed,  how  is  this  just 
economy  secured  by  giving  him  back  a  body 
which  was  only  in  its  substance  his  during  a 
portion  of  his  life^? 

1  Peter  Martyr,  Loc.  Commun.  Class  iii.  c.  15,  n.  4. 

*  The  Quakers  have  been  accused  of  denying  the  Resurrection, 
but  Barclay,  Apology^  p.  373,  expressly  denies  it.  There  was  a 
sect  in  Holland  headed  by  Henry  Nicolaus,  of  whom  Hornleck 
reports,  vi.  p.  397,  that  he  taught  there  was  no  resurrection  of  the 
body  after  death,  but  that  all  resurrection  was  in  this  life,  \\z.  resur- 
rection from  sin  to  holiness. 

^  See  the  objection  of  Ccccilius  in  the  Octavitis,  which  is  of  a 


LECTURE  11.  47 

There  are,  then,  objections  of  two  general 
classes — those  which  have  their  root  in  the  feeling 
of  the  unworthiness  of  the  body,  and  which  seek 
a  support  out  of  the  Scriptures  for  some  spiritual 
meaning  of  the  resurrection,  because  it  is  written, 
*  Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  corruption  cannot  inherit  incorruption  ;' 
and — those  objections,  which,  from  the  physical 
fact  of  the  constant  change  in  the  body,  assume 
that  identity  of  substance  cannot  have  anything 
to  do  with  the  question. 

The  first  difficulty  ought  to  be  met  by  shewing 
that  the  Scriptures  teach  us  that  there  is  a  change 
to  be  made  in  man ;  that  the  spiritual,  or  resur- 
rection-body, is  free  from  the  infirmities  and 
impurity  of  the  natural,  or  animal  body. 

The  second  must  be  met  by  ascertaining  what 
is  meant  by  identity,  and  how  far  such  change  is 
compatible  with  it. 

In  the  present  Lecture  we  may  collect  what 
the  Scripture  tells  us  of  the  resurrection-body, 
shewing  that  it  obviates  completely  all  the  objec- 
tions which  have  been  urged  against  the  resur- 
rection from  the  weakness  and  defects  of  our 
present  natural  frames. 

We  cannot  but  notice,  in  the  first  place,  that 
S.  Paul,  while  adhering  positively  to  the  assertion 
that  we  are  to  expect  the  resurrection  of  the  body, 
does   yet  tell   us   of  most   important  differences 

similar  kind,  p.  25 ;  '  Ipso  corpore  ?     Sed  jam  ante  delapsum  est. 
Alio  corpore  ?     Ergo  homo  noviis  nascitur,  non  prior  ille  reparatur.' 


48  LECTURE  II. 

which  are  to  exist  between  the  risen  body  and  the 
bodies  we  now  have.  He  compares  the  present 
life  and  the  future  life  to  the  seed-time,  and  the 
life  of  the  future  plant — death  being  the  limit 
of  the  two  states — and  points  out  that,  as  there 
are  bodies  of  different  kinds  to  ours  which  may 
not  outwardly  be  less  dissimilar  than  the  plant 
and  the  seed,  so  there  are  bodies  fitted  for  heaven, 
as  well  as  bodies  fitted  for  earth.  So  ought  we  to 
think  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  And  con- 
fining himself  to  the  case  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  just,  he  goes  on  to  say  that  the  body  which 
is  here  in  a  state  of  liability  to  corruption,  de- 
gradation, and  weakness,  shall  hereafter  exist 
in  the  state  of  incorruption,  glory,  and  power.  In 
the  present  state  it  is  an  animal,  or  natural  body, 
one  in  which  the  y^vx^  is  the  dominant  power 
(the  epithumetic  part  of  the  soul,  according  to 
Plato).  In  the  future  state  it  shall  be  a  spiiitual 
body,  in  which  the  irvedfxa  is  supreme ;  '  for  as 
there  is  a  natural  body,  so  there  also  is  a  spiritual 
body  ;'  the  previous  analogies  having  prepared 
his  hearers  for  the  fact  that  bodies  may  exist 
in  very  different  conditions.  He  then  refers  to 
the  Old  Testament  for  the  proof  of  the  condition 
of  Adam  as  the  representative  of  fallen,  unre- 
newed nature,  and  compares  it  with  the  condition 
of  Christ,  the  Head  of  the  new  creation.  The 
regeneration  of  human  nature  is  the  establish- 
ment of  the  ascendancy  of  the  irvedna,  or  spiritual 
principle,    in    the    place    of  the   i^vxv,  or    animal 


LECTURE  II.  49 

principle.  Adam,  as  representing  mankind  in 
general,  has  a  body  in  which  the  mundane  prin- 
ciple predominates,  being  formed  of  the  dust  of 
the  earth,  and  his  descendants  share  in  these 
qualities.  Those  who  in  the  new  creation  are 
partakers  with  Christ,  in  like  manner  shall  in- 
herit the  heavenly  spiritual  body.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  we  have  our  lot  with  Adam  in  the 
natural  body,  he  being  our  forerunner  according 
to  the  flesh.  So  also  shall  it  be  as  certain  that 
Christians  shall  have  the  heavenly  body  through 
their  incorporation  with  Christ  Jesus.  The  change 
is  absolutely  necessary  :  for  the  corruptible — that 
which  has  the  property  of  becoming  corrupt — can- 
not inherit,  i.  e.  cannot,  in  the  natural  order  of 
things,  succeed  to  a  property  of  becoming  incor- 
rupt. Corruption  cannot  put  on  incorruption ;  and 
therefore  a  change  must  be  made  which  shall 
render  the  former  what  it  was  not  before ;  and 
therefore  we  shall  all  be  changed. 

Here,  then,  is  the  ground  of  which  ancient 
heretics  availed  themselves.  Since  S.  Paul  says 
that  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  God,  how  can  that  flesh  and  blood  whiqh 
decayed  in  the  earth  be  raised  again  to  the  in  cor-* 
ruptible  state  ? 

The  answer  is,  that  '  flesh  and  blood,'  and  the 
property  of  liability  to  corruption,  must  be  distin- 
guished. By  the  former  we  may  understand  the 
carnal  propensities  of  the  man',  or,  if  the  context 

^  S.  Augustin.  Sermo  cccLxii.  de  Resurrectione,  ^\4,  ed.  Bened. 
Tom.  VII.  p.  1424,  and  §  17,  p.  1426,  and  §  21,  p.  1430. 

H.  L.  D 


60  LECTURE   11. 

be  supposed  absolutely  to  require  a  material  sense 
in  the  words — that  organization  which  is  con- 
nected with  the  passions ;  and  there  are  reasons 
of  very  considerable  importance  connected  with 
the  nature  of  man,  both  moral  and  spiritual,  which 
indicate  and  require  changes ^  The  animal  frame 
is  not  only  in  its  present  state  the  inlet,  but  the 
instrument  of  temptation,  and  a  prompter  to  sin. 
It  is  in  this  present  life  a  minister  of  sin;  and  those 
qualities  in  it  by  which  the  communication  of 
objects  of  temptation  with  the  soul  of  man  is  kept 
up,  and  which  give  rise  to  sinful  tendencies,  must 
therefore  be  excluded.  The  state  of  happiness 
cannot  be  one  of  temptation,  and  therefore  the 
body  can  be  no  longer  the  instrument  of  tempta- 
tion, either  through  natural  passions  or  through 
infirmities. 

Our  Lord's  answer  to  the  Sadducees  is  very 
explicit  on  this  point. 

'The  children  of  this  world  marry,  and  are 
given  in  marriage ;  but  they  which  shall  be  ac- 
counted worthy  to  obtain  that  world,  and  the  re- 
surrection from  the  dead,  neither  marry  nor  are 
given  in  marriage.  Neither  can  they  die  any 
more  ;  for  they  are  equal  unto  the  angels ^' 

^  Ta  vvv  €v  ao\  (pOapTa  Ka\  X^'P^  *'""'  '''°  atpQapTov  k(xi  KpeiTTOv 
fi€Ta(TToi-x^eiijo6t](TovTai. —  T/ieopht/lact. 

2  The  idea  of  equality  with  the  angels  is  one  found  in  several 
authors.  Whitby  quotes  Jamhlichus  apud  Stoh.  Bel.  p.  144,  who 
(very  probably  from  this  place  however)  says  the  souls  of  good  men 
shall  be  converted  when  they  leave  the  body  eU  djyeKov^  Ka\  dyyeXi- 
kac  \//y;^as — and  a  passage  is  also  quoted  from  Hierocles,  tou?  ev  to?« 

Bttoit;   yeveai  (rvvrerayfitvov;  dvPpumovv   rrffieiv  d  Xo'yoc   irapn'tvei   toi'« 


LECTURE  II.  51 

It  seems  most  reasonable  to  interpret  the  words 
*  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,'  in  connexion  with  these  words  of  our  Sa- 
viour ;  to  understand  therefore  thereby,  as  we  are 
here  taught,  that  those  natural  passions  which  are 
essentially  necessary  in  this  life,  both  for  the 
preservation  of  individuals  and  of  races,  will  not 
exist  in  the  resurrection-body.  The  word  >|/t;;^t/f09 
is  translated  sensual  in  the  third  chapter  of  S. 
James,  and  15th  ver. :  *  This  wisdom  descendeth  not 
from  above,  but  is  earthly,  sensual,  devilish  ;'  and 
again,  in  the  19th  verse  of  the  Epistle  of  S.  Jude ; 
and  therefore  when  S.  Paul  speaks  of  the  natural 
body,  (Twixa  ^vxiKov,  we  are  led  to  understand  that 
he  refers  to  a  body  in  which  the  animal  pas- 
sions are  implanted. 

There  is  also  another  argument  to  be  alleged 
by  which  we  can  shew  that  the  qualities  of  the 
resurrection-body  are  very  different  from  those  of 
the  natural  body,  and  by  which  the  interpretation 
of  the  words  '  flesh  and  blood'  is  cleared. 

We  are  directed  by  the  apostolical  Epistles  to 
look  to  the  risen  body  of  our  Saviour  for  a  know- 
ledge of  what  the  spiritual  body  of  the  resurrec- 
tion shall  be^ ;  and  this  too  in  more  than  one  place. 
S.  Paul,  writing  to  the  Philippians,  speaks  of  our 
Lord  thus  :  *Who  shall  change  our  vile  body,  that 
it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  His  glorious  body.' 
And  S.  John  :  *  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 

\<s-ocai}xova<;,  Ka\  la-nyyeXov;,    koi    to?s  ayavoKi  ijpua-tv  ofxoiov;,  p.  52, 
ed.  Londini,  1742. 

^  S.  Augustin.  Sermo  ccclxii.  de  Resurrecfione,  §§10,  17,  27. 

D2 


52  LECTURE  II. 

shall  be  ;  but  we  know  that  when  He  shall  appear 
we  shall  be  like  Him;  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He 
is».'  And  S.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians  :  'We  shall 
bear  the  image  of  the  Heavenly,  i.e.,  the  Lord 
from  heaven.'  And  David,  speaking  prophetically, 
and  perhaps  not  himself  aware  of  the  meaning  of 
his  words  :  '  When  I  awake  up  after  thy  likeness 
I  shall  be  satisfied  with  it.' 

Now  the  body  of  our  Lord  after  His  resurrec- 
tion was  certainly  not  one  which  could  be  de- 
scribed as  entirely  ethereal,  whatever  changes 
had  passed  upon  it,  since  He  Himself  says, '  Behold 
my  hands  and  feet,  that  it  is  I  myself;  handle  me 
and  see :  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as 
ye  see  me  have.'  And  yet  our  Lord  seems  to  have 
had  the  power  of  transferring  His  body  at  will 
from  one  place  to  another  ^ ;  the  power  of  altering 
its  outward  form,  so  as  to  prevent  persons  re- 
cognising Him,  while  yet  retaining  the  power  of 
compelling  recognition.  There  is  something  sin- 
gular at  first  in  the  fact,  that  the  women,  whose 
affection  to  our  Saviour  prompted  them  to  go 
early  to  the  sepulchre  on  the  morning  of  the  resur- 
rection, should  have  been  unable  to  recognise 
Him  ;  but  we  see  a  hesitation   in  almost  all  the 

1  See  S.  Augustine's  discussion  of  this  passage,  as  it  bears  on  the 
qualities  of  the  resurrection-body,  in  the  Epistle  to  Paulina,  de  Vi- 
dendo  Deo,  21,  49,  and  22,  51;  and  in  that  which  follows  it  in  the 
Benedictine  edition,  the  Commonitorium  to  For  tuna  tianus,  bishop  of 
Sicca. 

2  '  Credere  enim  debemus  talia  corpora  nos  habituros,  ut  ubi 
velimus  quando  voluerimus,  ibi  simus.' — «S'.  August.  Sermo  ccxlii. 
In  diehus  Faschalihus,  §  5. 


LECTURE  II.  53 

accounts.  When  He  shewed  himself  to  the  as- 
sembled apostles,  to  the  disciples  walking  to 
Emmaus,  to  the  disciples  when  fishing — in  all 
the  recognition  of  Christ  M^as  not  immediate.  This 
indicates  some  outward  change ;  and  for  this, 
perhaps,  the  three  chosen  disciples  were  prepared 
by  the  mysterious  event  of  the  transfiguration^  in 
which  they  knew  of  our  Lord's  identity,  notwith- 
standing a  great  change  in  His  outward  appear- 
ance (fiere/uLopcpajOr]).  And  therefore  we  are  by  these 
facts  prepared  for  some  general  changewhich  passes 
on  the  whole  body.  In  the  case  of  S.  Luke's 
Gospel,  it  is  mentioned  that  our  Lord  did  eat 
before  them.  Some  suppose  the  same  implied  in 
the  account  in  the  last  chapter  of  S.  John ;  and 
S.  Peter  says  expressly,  in  the  11th  chap.  41st  ver. 
of  the  Acts,  *  that  the  apostles  eat  and  drank 
with  Him  after  He  rose  from  the  dead.'  We  cannot 
suppose  this  to  be  for  any  other  purpose  than  to 
prove  to  them  the  truth  of  His  corporal  existence^. 
It  has  been  noticed  that  our  Lord  says  '  flesh  and 
bones,'  in  speaking  of  Himself,  not 'blood;'  the 
blood  being  the  principle  of  animal  life.     The  car- 

^  S.  Chrysostom.  Tom.  in.  p.  488,  Horn,  de  Fuliirce  Vitce  Deliciis: 
.  . .  aveXQcav  ev  tw  opei  fxeTefxapcpaidt]  e/XTrpoo'dev  Taov  /jLadtjTwv  avTov, 
irapavoijbov  auTO?"?  twi/  fxeWovTuiv  Trjv  Zo^av,  nat  cos  ev  alviyfiaTi  Ka\ 
apv6pw<;  €irtdetKvv<;  olov  ecTTai  to  <Tiop.a  to  rfpCTepov. — See  also  ^S".  Alt- 
(Justin.  Epistola  cxLix.  ad  Paidinum,  §  31. 

2  S.  Augustin.  Sermo  ccclxii.  De  Resurrectione^  ed.  Bened. 
Tom.  VII.  p.  1422:  'In  terra  officia  hmnana  servavit,  ut  persuaderet 
hoc  resurrexisse  quod  sepultum  erat.  Numquid  autem  et  in  ccelo 
talis  cibus  est  ?  Nam  et  an;^elos  officia  huraana  in  terra  legimus  ex- 
secutos  i  and  he  gives  the  instance  of  the  angels  appearing  to  Abra- 
ham (Gen.  xviii.  9),  and  he  goes  on  to  shew  that  as  the  reason  of  our 


B4>  LECTURE  II. 

nal  mortal  element  seems  to  be  entirely  banished 
from  the  glorified  body,  and  the  crowning  miracle 
of  the  ascension  proves  that  the  Saviour's  human 
body  was  of  a  nature  very  different  indeed  to  the 
present. 

I  have  said  that  the  expressions  used  by  our 
Lord  would  exclude  the  idea  of  an  ethereal  or 
attenuated  substance  in  His  risen  body;  but  this 
also  seems  to  be  an  accidental,  not  an  essential 
property.  It  is  said  that  He  became  invisible  at 
will;  and  this  is  not  inconsistent  with  substance 
remaining;  for  we  have  instances  in  the  natural 
world  of  substances  existing  as  solids  and  in  the 
gaseous  state  without  losing  their  identity  ^ 

The  only  result,  however,  to  whicli  I  wish  at 
present  to  arrive  is,  that  there  is  sufficient  evi- 
dence of  change  in  the  resurrection-body  to  ob- 

Lord's  compliance  cannot  have  any  place  when  men  shall  rise  a^rain, 
there  is  no  ground  to  conclude  from  this  example,  the  existence  of 
carnal  appetites  in  the  Resurrection-hody. 

'  Quod  manducavit  potestatis  ftiit  non  egestatis.' — Sermo  ccxlii. 
in  diebus  Paschalihus,  §  2. 

^  Ori(/en,  and  after  him,  Grotius,  thought  that  there  was  an  in- 
termediate state  of  our  Lord's  body  during  the  forty  days;  but  this 
seems  to  have  very  little  to  support  it.  The  opinion  which  I  have 
reported  above,  is  according  to  what  Moshcim  writes  in  his  note  on 
Cudworth,  V.  3.  20  (4to.  ed.  p.  442) :  '  Quod  e  discipulorum  suorum 
conspcctu  repente  Christus  evanuit  id  argumento  quidem  est,  corpus 
ejus  no  vis  auctum  fuisse  proprictatibus  et  vcterem  deposuisse  gravi- 
tatcm,  aut  gloriosum  fuisse  factum  ;  nullo  vero  niodo  probat,  corpus 
illud,  quod  resurgcns  habuit,  aerium  et  media?  cujusdam  natura^  fuisse.' 

Tlie  place  of  Origen  referred  to  is  adv.  Celsum,  Lib.  ii,  p.  98 : 
Kat  riv  ye  Ka-ra  Tt]i>  avacrraaii'  avTov  wa-irep  ev  fxedofiiw  tivi  Tti'^  irayv- 
Tr/TOC  T/7<;  irpo  rod  7raOov<;  crw'/iaTO?,  ku]  tov  jv/jtrnji/  toiovtov  (Tw7»aTo<: 

(pa'tveadai  4'^X*^"'  ^^^  ^''^  passage  of  Grotius  is  Comment,  ad  Lucce 
Evang.  c.  xxiv.  31. 


LECTURE  II.  65 

viate  all  objections  which  can  be  drawn  from  the 
grossness  of  matter,  from  the  connexion  of  material 
substance  with  weakness  or  corrupt  tendency^ 

So  flir  only  can  we  maintain  that  the  body  of 
the  resurrection  is  like  that  in  which  we  now 
dwell- — that  it  is  capable  of  recognition  ;  and  this 
in  a  peculiar  sense,  of  which  we  must  say  more 
when  we  have  to  examine  the  more  difficult  sub- 
ject of  identity. 

We  may  now  refer  to  some  points  of  much 
interest,  on  which  the  Scriptures  do  certainly 
speak,  it  seems  to  me,  without  hesitation  or  indis- 
tinctness. 

On  the  separate  existence  of  the  soul  there 
seems  to  be  clear  intimation,  though  whether  the 
soul  be  completely  free  from  all  corporeal  conco- 
mitant is  not  so  clearly  affirmed. 

When  it  is  said  that  all  live  unto  God,  that 
the  spirit  of  man  returns  to  God  who  gave  it,  that, 
in  the  case  of  the  faithful,  to  depart  is  to  be  with 

^  '  Christianity  brought  with  it  not  the  annihilation  hut  the 
ennobling  and  the  glorifying  of  that  which  peculiarly  belongs  to 
human  nature;  and  the  de-humanizing  idealism  of  the  Gnostics  was 
wholly  incompatible  with  this  fundamental  principle  of  Christianity.' 
Neanders  Church  Histori/,  Vol.  ii.  p.  327.  (H-  J.  Rose's  Trans- 
lation.) 

^  yEneas  Gazeus,  according  to  Dupin's  account  of  him,  seems  to 
have  held  this:  '11  croit...que  les  corps  ressusciteront  en  la  meme 
forme  qu'ils  ont  eu  en  ce  monde.' — Nouvelle  Billiotheque  des  Auteurs 
Eccl.  Tom.  IV.  p.  280. 

S.  Augustine  has  a  curious  speculation  in  ch.  15,  Book  xxii.  of 
the  '  City  of  God.'  He  supposes  that  men  shall  rise  with  the  form 
which  they  had  when  about  30  years  of  age,  because  men  are  then 
in  the  prime  of  life,  and  because  of  that  being  near  the  age  of  our 
Saviour  when  he  died  and  rose  asain. 


56  LECTURE  11. 

Christ,  that  the  spirit  of  man  goeth  upward,  that 
the  resurrection  is  a  bringing  back  of  them  that 
are  now  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus,  we  can  have,  it 
seems  to  me,  little  doubt  that  the  Bible  means  to 
teach  us  the  truth  embodied  in  the  Burial  Service 
of  the  Church,  where  we  say,  'With  whom  do 
live  the  souls  of  them  that  depart  hence  in  the 
Lord,  and  with  whom  the  souls  of  the  faithful, 
after  they  are  delivered  from  the  burden  of  the 
flesh,  are  in  joy  and  felicity  \' 

If  any  objection  is  made  on  the  ground  that 
incorporeal  beings  must  be  without  extension,  and 
therefore  cannot  logically  be  said  to  have  locality, 
we  must,  no  doubt,  admit  a  difficulty.  But  if  we 
are  asked,  Where  are  the  souls  of  men  after  death  ? 
such  an  appeal  to  our  ignorance  is  only  to  be  met 
by  urging  men  with  the  indefinite  idea  in  which 
they  are  content  to  remain  with  respect  to  the 
Deity.  If  we  ask,  where  is  God  ?  and  we  are  told 
that  he  is  present  everywhere,  the  answer,  though 
true,  is  indefinite  and  wanting  in  any  positive  idea. 

It  may  be  also  answered,  that,  as  Holy  Scrip- 
ture favours  the  idea  of  a  locality  for  souls  of 
men  out  of  the  body 2,  it  may  to  the  same  extent 
give  reason  to  suppose  that  the  soul  may  not  be 

^  eh  TO  o(p€i\onevov  avroi'i  tottov  el<Ti  Trapd  tw  KujOiw. —  S.  Poly- 
carp.  Epist.  §  9.     Justin  Martyr^  D.  Tryph.  p.  223,  et  passim. 

There  is  a  very  interesting  account  of  the  writers  who  have 
argued  the  question  about  the  sleep  of  the  soul  after  death  in  Arch- 
deacon Blackhurn's  Works,  Vol.  in.  but  it  is  one-sided,  for  the  Arch- 
deacon himself  believed  m  the  sleep  ;  and  he  has  omitted  many 
writers  of  repute  on  the  other  side  of  the  question. 

'  S.  Augustine  discusses  this  question  at  the  end  of  the  12th 
Book  Dc  Genesi  ad  Litteram. 


LECTURE  II.  57 

altogetlrer  separated  from  all  material  combina- 
tion ;  an  opinion  which  the  Platonists  held,  and 
also  many  of  the  ancient  Christian  fathers.  Holy 
Scripture,  though  perhaps  it  cannot  be  said  to 
teach  an  extended  separate  existence  of  spiritual 
beings,  allows  us  to  presume  it.  The  Apostles 
supposed  on  several  occasions  that  they  had  seen 
a  spirit ;  and  our  Lord  says,  *  A  spirit  hath  not 
flesh  and  bones,  as  ye  see  me  have.' 

There  is  an  impression,  amounting  often  to 
belief,  that  seems  spread  over  the  world,  wherever 
we  can  find  man,  that  there  may  be,  that  there 
have  been,  what  are  called  supernatural  appear- 
ances. No  doubt,  in  a  matter  where  the  imagi- 
nation is  so  easily  called  into  play,  and  where  it 
is  so  easy  to  practise  deception,  innumerable  in- 
stances have  occurred  which  may  be  explained  on 
either  of  these  suppositions ;  but  he  would  be  a 
rash  man  who  should  affirm  it  impossible  that 
such  things  may  be.  The  Platonists S  acting  on 
their  avowed  principle  of  adopting  all  that  had 
universality  and  antiquity  in  its  favour  as  having 
a  germ  of  truth,  held  that  the  souls  of  men  on 
leaving  the  body  had  another  spiritual  or  ethereal 
body;  that  the  soul  never  could  be  quite  deprived 
of  all  body  ;  not  that  the  soul  always  adhered  to 
the  same  particles,  but  that  it  had  a  property  of 
making  a  body  suitable  to  itself  under  any  cir- 
cumstances ^ 

^  See  note  on  Lecture  I.  p.  26.  and  Cudicortlis  Intellectual  St/stem^ 
V.  3.  19. 

^   Porphyrins  in  d(popna'i<;    -rrpo^    rd   I'otjTa,    §  ,32,   p.  28.3,  (o'<r   yap 


68  LECTURE  IL 

And  with  the  doctrines  of  this  school  Christi- 
anity agrees  in  some  particulars,  especially  in 
this,  that  the  highest  happiness  and  perfection  of 
human  nature  does  not  consist  in  a  separate  state 
of  souls  ununited  to  any  body^  and  also  that  it 
does  not  consist  in  the  junction  of  soids  to  the 
present  gross  natural  body.  As  it  is  not  deter- 
mined in  Christianit}^  it  may  be  urged  that  there 
is  nothing  inconsistent  in  the  idea  of  the  soul 
between  death  and  the  resurrection  having  some 
kind  of  body2.  Origen^  supposes  (and  it  is  a  noble 
idea)  that  it  is  a  privilege  peculiar  to  the  Deity, 
to   live    and   act  alone  without  vital  union  with 


civ    ZtereOr]  evj/tcTKei    a-wixct,   Tci^ei   Ka\    to??    oiKeioi<;   Ziwpta-fxei'ov;    and 
Theophrastus  apud  JEnemn  Gazeum,  Dialogo  Theophrasto,  p.  54, 

TOiovTUiv    KUi   ToaovTbov   1]    \lyv^i]    aoofxaTwv   ejXTr'nrXaTUi,    Ci    bcrmv   Kai 
o'toau  ■^topiujv   TTupep'^eTai, 

^  S.  Augustin.  de  Genesi  ad  Litteram,  Lib.  xii.  c.  35,  §  58, 
teaches  that  the  resurrection  of  the  body  is  necessary  to  complete 
the  happiness  of  the  soul. 

2  Tlie  €lcn<:  -^apaKTtjpi^ov  of  Origeu  which  belonged  to  the  o-w/jta 
irvevfxaTiKov  as  well  as  the  o-w/jia  ^jyv^iKuv.  S.  A  ugusltm  however  is 
of  a  contrary  opinion:  '  Utrum  habeat  aliquod  corpus,  cum  de  hoc 
corpore  exierit,  ostendat  qui  potest,  ego  autem  non  puto.' — De  Genesi 
ad  Litteram,  Lib.  xir.  c.  32,  §  60.  It  should  be  observed  that  this 
notion  is  quite  distinct  from  what  is  ordinarily  called  materialism, 
or  the  doctrine  tliat  the  intellectual  faculty  is  the  result  of  physical 
organization.  Dr  Cromhie  in  his  Natural  Theologg,  Vol.  ii.  seems 
to  me  to  have  collected  in  the  clearest  form,  tlie  arguments  from 
nature  on  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul.  Those  who  have  advocated 
the  doctrine  of  the  sleep  of  the  soul,  too  often  are  liable  to  the  charge 
of  materialism ;  but  this  is  not  necessarily  the  case,  for  the  advo- 
cates of  that  doctrine  may  only  maintain  that  the  state  of  tlie  soul 
after  death  is  like  its  state  in  natural  sle(>p,  without  entering  on  the 
question  of  its  immateriality. 

3  Origeiies  ■nep\  'Apy^.  Lib.  ii.  c.  2,  p.  69,  Opp. 


LECTURE  II.  59 

any  body.  If  it  be  an  essential  property  of  the 
soul,  that  it  should  impart  life  to  matter,  then  it 
is  improbable  it  should  be  kept  separate^  Ter- 
tullian,  indeed,  seems  to  go  too  far  in  this  respect, 
and  make  the  soul  itself  material^;  but  Irenaeus 
preserves  the  idea  of  the  incorporeal  nature  of  the 
soul,  and  yet  supposes  it  to  have  a  sort  of  figure 
and  character,  of  a  bodily  kind,  such  as  it  had  in 
this  life^  He  says  our  Lord  hath  most  plainly 
taught  us,  that  not  only  do  souls  continue  after 
death  without  passing  from  one  body  into  ano- 
ther, but  that  they  preserve  the  character  of  the 
body  to  which  they  are  joined,  and  remember 
what  they  did  here,  and  what  they  left  undone, 
and  that  they  have  the  figure  of  a  man,  so  that 
they  may  be  known*. 

^  See  S.  Attgustin.  de  Cimtate  Dei,  Lib.  xiii.  c.  19,  and  Lib. 
XXII.  c.  27-  'In  Lib.  xxi,  10,  be  adduces  tbe  case  of  Dives  in  illus- 
tration of  tbe  suffering  of  demons,  supposing  tbat  tbey  be  not, 
tbougli  of  aerial,  yet  corporeal  substance.' — Notes  on  Tertullian,  in 
tbe  Library  of  tbe  Fatbers,  Apology,  c.  48,  p.  99. 

2  De  Resurrectiove  Carnis,  §  17- 

2  So  /S".  Augustin.  de  Gen.  ad  Littera7n,  Lib.  xii.  c.  32,  §  62  : 
'Animam  vero  non  esse  corpoream  non  me  putare  sed  plane  scire 
audeo  profiteri ;  tamen  babere  posse  similitudinem  corporis  et  corpo- 
ralium  omnino  niembrorum  quisquis  negat,  potest  negare  animam 
esse,  quae  insomnis  videt  vel  se  ambulare,  vel  sedere,  vel  liac  atque 
iliac  gustu  aut  etiam  voratu  ferri  ac  referri,  quod  sine  quadam  simi- 
litudine  corporis  non  sit,' 

*  Irenceus,  ii.  62,  3.  See  Massiiet's  Dissertation  iii.  on  Irenams, 
Art.  11.  §  120. 

In  anotber  place  Ircnwus,  ii.  19,  6,  compares  tbe  figure  wbicb 
be  assigns  to  tbe  soul  to  tbe  sbape  of  water  filling  a  vessel:  'Non 
enim  angelorum  babebit  similitudinem  et  speciem,  sed  animarum  in 
quibus  et  formatur  ;  quomodo  aqua  in  vas  missa  ipsius  vasis  babebit 
formam,  et  jam  si  gelaverit  in  eo,  speciem  babebit  vasculi,  in  quo 


60  LECTURE   II. 

And  Origen,  speaking  of  S.  Thomas's  doubts 
of  our  Lord's  reality,  attributes  to  him  a  like  per- 
suasion, that  he  supposed  he  might  have  seen  a 
spirit,  but  was  determined  to  satisfy  himself  of 
the  substantial  verity  of  the  Lord's  body  before 
he  would  consent  to  receive  the  truth  of  his  resur- 
rection ^ 

The  substance  then  of  the  conclusions  to  which 
this  exercise  should  lead  are  as  follows  : 

1.  That  the  changes  which  the  Scripture 
teaches  us  shall  supervene  in  the  resurrection- 
body,  are  such  that  they  fully  meet  all  objections 
which  can  be  drawn  from  the  grossness  of  the 
present  material  frame. 

2.  That,  whereas  the  Scripture  allows  us  to 
presume  the  separate  existence  of  spirit,  it  does 
not  forbid,  but  may  rather  be  supposed  to  tolerate, 
the  opinion  that  the  soul  thus  separate,  may  have 
some  ethereal  or  refined  substance  united  to  it^. 

By  this  means  it  has  been  endeavoured  to 
obviate  certain  objections  wliich  have  been  felt 
more  or  less  strongly  since  the  first  promulgation 
of  Christianity ;  and  the  recapitulation  of  the 
answers  now,  and  the  conveying  of  them  in  plain 
and  modern  language,  is  meant  to  be  proposed 
as  a  help  to  any  who  may  in  these  days  of  busy 

gelavit;    quando  ipsa?  animae  corporis  liabcant  figuram;  ipsi  eiiim 
adaptatas  sunt  vasi,  qviemadmodum  pra>dixiinus.' 

1  See  Cudworth's  IvteUectiial  St/stem,  v.  3,  27. 

2  See  on  this  controversy,  Leclcrc,  Bihliotheque  choisic,  Tom.  viii. 
p.  81  ;  and  Mosheim's  Notes  to  his  Latin  Translation  of  Cudworth's 
Intdlcctual  Si/stem,  v.  3,  2.5. 


LECTURE  II.  61 

and  curious  speculation  be  troubled  in  their 
faith. 

How  are  the  dead  raised  up  ?  With  what 
body  do  they  come  ?  What  is  the  promise  of 
Christ's  coming  ?  These  are  questions  which  will 
be  asked  by  men  as  long  as  the  world  standeth. 
They  must  be  answered,  and  the  answer  cleared 
from  time  to  time  from  such  additional  difficulties 
as  may  be  thrown  upon  it,  as  far  as  the  holy 
Scriptures  authorize  to  do  so ;  but  we  must  also, 
as  becomes  those  whose  guiding  principle  is  faith, 
trust  in  the  truth  of  Christ  our  Saviour,  make  all 
these  speculations  in  humility,  and  endeavour  to 
repress  our  too  curious  feelings,  lest,  as  S.  Augus- 
tine saysS  we  never  rise  to  the  state  in  which  the 
qualities  of  the  resurrection-body  of  the  just  be- 
come known  to  us. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  fitly  notice  the  con- 
gruity  of  this  doctrine  of  the  spiritual  body  with 
the  general  scheme  of  the  Gospel.  The  body 
with  its  organization  of  parts,  suited  for  the  as- 
cendancy of  the  ^uxrj,  is  a  fit  instrument  for  man 
in  the  state  of  probation  ;  but  if  in  the  contest  of 
the  flesh  and  the  Spirit  of  God  which  dwelleth 
within  us,  the  spiritual  principle,  so  supported 
and  strengthened,  prevail,  then  salvation  is  accom- 
plished ;  and  in  the  resurrection,  the  man  who 
has  become  spiritual,  will  have  this  victory  con- 

^  '  Qiue  sit  autem  et  quam  magna  spiritualis  corporis  gratia, 
quoniam  nondum  venit  in  experimentum,  vereor  ne  temerarium  sit 
omne  quod  de  ilia  profertur  eloquium.' — S.  Augiistin.  De  Civitate 
Dei,  Lib.  xxii.  c.  21,  et  seq. 


62  LECTURE   II. 

firmed  and  made  sure,  by  the  adaptation  of  his 
body  fixedly  to  the  empire  of  the  spiritual. 

Thus  Christ's  crucifixion  and  resurrection  are 
as  it  were  worked  out  in  every  Christian  in  whom 
the  grace  of  God  is  efiectual.  The  carnal,  or 
animal,  or  natural  element  is  crucified  and  slain, 
and  the  spiritual,  heavenly,  engrafted  element  is 
triumphant,  and  the  man  is  brought  out  from  the 
state  in  which  he  would  have  been  M'ithout  Christ, 
into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God,  made 
free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.  And  by  this 
must  we  now  judge  of  our  progress  towards  our 
eternal  destiny. 

There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spi- 
ritual body.  The  subjective  idea  of  Christianity 
cannot  be  expressed  by  a  more  apt  symbolism. 
There  are  in  life  present,  the  natural  state,  and 
the  spiritual  state ;  and  as  the  works  of  the  flesh 
are  manifest  as  the  fruits  of  the  former,  so  the 
fruits  of  the  spirit  are  given  to  us  as  the  criteria 
of  the  latter.  By  these  we  may  know  if  God's 
mercy  towards  us  has  been  efiectual.  By  these 
must  we  judge  ourselves,  and  ascertain  whether 
we  are  frustrating  the  grace  of  God,  or  whether 
we  are  through  faith  yielding  ourselves  to  the 
Divine  influence  which  constantly  urges  us  on- 
wards, upwards  and  forwards,  to  a  loftier  scale  of 
being,  that  having  escaped  the  corruption  that  is 
in  the  world  through  lust,  we  may,  according  to 
the  Monderful  words  of  S.  Peter,  be  partakers  of 
the  Divine  nature. 


LECTURE  III, 


1  CORINTHIANS  XV.  35. 

How  are  the  dead  raised  iqy  ?  and  with  what  body  do  they 
come  ? 

rnHE  question  that  next  presents  itself  to  the 
-L  enquirer,  about  the  Scriptural  notion  of  the 
reviviscence  of  the  human  being,  is  that  of  identity. 
We  have  endeavoured  to  recapitulate,  from  sources 
trustworthy  and  impartial,  what  was  the  idea  of  a 
future  life  before  our  Saviour  brought  it  to  light 
or  made  it  clear,  the  progress  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  resurrection  after  the  time  of  the  Gospel,  and 
to  shew  what  is  the  difference  between  the  raised 
body  and  the  present  natural  body  ;  and  we  have 
now  to  consider  how  far  the  changes  we  have 
described  as  taking  place  in  the  body  are  con- 
sistent with  sameness  of  the  individual. 

In  speaking  of  identity,  or  sameness,  we  are 
met  at  once  with  a  notion  of  the  extreme  vague- 
ness of  the  term ;  we  are  forced  to  make  certain 
distinctions  between  the  cases  to  which  we  apply 
the  word.  Even  mathematical  identity  is  two- 
fold ;  figures  of  the  same  form  coincide  geome- 
trically and  are  identical ;  in  certain  algebraic 
formulae  the  form  is  different,  the  real  value  of 
expressions  the  same ;  here  the  identity  is  deduc- 
tive.   And  in   the  physical  world,  when  neither 


(li  LECTURE  III. 

form  nor  real  substance  are  wholly  the  same,  we 
yet  do  not  scruple  to  speak  of  the  sameness  of 
objects ;  and  the  instance  which  has  been  made 
use  of  most  frequently  to  illustrate  this  is  taken 
from  vegetable  growth.  The  tree  which  year  by 
year  sheds  all  its  leaves,  and  is  renewed  through- 
out its  whole  structure  with  its  acquired  annual 
increase,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  talk  of  as  the  same 
tree ;  we  do  not  require,  in  order  to  constitute 
sameness,  the  actual  existence  of  the  same  par- 
ticles only,  and  in  the  same  relative  positions ; 
and  when  in  old  age  all  the  interior  substance 
may  be  decayed  and  gone,  that  there  may  not  be 
any  particle  in  common  between  the  old  inhabit- 
ant of  the  forest  and  what  it  was  when  a  tender 
plant,  we  yet  do  not  object  to  its  being  called  the 
same  tree.  Sameness  from  year  to  year  does  not 
seem  to  us  a  difficulty,  but  our  conception  of  it  is 
strangely  altered  when  we  compare  the  individual 
after  a  lapse  of  centuries ;  so  that  our  ideas  of 
identity,  or  sameness',  are  extremely  indefinite, 
and  the  question,  how  much  of  change  is  consis- 
tent with  identity  of  individuals  ?  is  one  to  which  a 
positive  answer  cannot  be  returned.  It  may  be 
said,  that  perpetual  flux  of  particles,  provided  there 
be  a  continuity  in  the  change,  and  in  the  existence 
of  the  subject,,  does  in  the  case  of  vegetable 
growth  satisfy  our  notion  of  identity  ;  but,  applied 

1  Mr  Mill  (On  the  Human  Mind,  Vol.  ii.  p.  127)  argues  that 
Same  is  the  name  of  a  certain  case  of  belief,  founded  either  on 
memory,  or  testimony,  or  circumstantial  evidence,  or  on  both. 


LECTURE  III.  65 

to  the  case  which  we  are  considering,  of  the  human 
body,  we  have  a  break  in  this  continuity  at  death, 
which  takes  it  out  of  the  analogy. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  popular  under- 
standing of  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh  was, 
that  the  same  particles  which  composed  the 
perishing  body  should  be  reunited  to  form  the 
risen  body  ;  that  the  actual  atoms  deposited  in  the 
tomb  should  be  the  elements  out  of  which  the 
living  man,  at  the  resurrection,  shall  have  his 
body  constructed,  and  those  to  whom  such  identity 
of  particles  seemed  necessary  to  constitute  identity 
of  the  man,  have  a  ready  answer  to  all  objections, 
by  urging  the  omnipotence  and  omniscience  of 
the  Deity'.  This  reply  is  sufficient  to  silence  the 
objectors,  if  it  could  be  shewn  that  identity  of 
man  requires  identity  of  particles.  But  before 
we  come  to  this  conclusion,  it  seems  reasonable  to 
settle  what  identity  of  man  really  is,  and  if  it  can 
be  made  clear  that  the  positive  sameness  of  par- 
ticles has  nothing  to  do  with  the  identity  of  any 
individual,  then,  of  course,  there  is  no  need  to 
have  recourse  to  an  answer,  which  is  one  pre- 
cluding a  reply  indeed,  but  which  may,  in  this 
case,  reasonably  be  received  with  hesitation,  and 
with  an  appeal  to  other  ways  and  works  of  God; 
ways  which  are  not  as  our  ways,  thoughts  which 
are  not  as  our  thoughts. 

Even  divines  who  have   thought  it  necessary 

^  This,  according  to  S.  Chrysostom  on  1  Cor.  xv.  36,  is  not  the 
way  of  S.  Paul. 

H.  L.  E 


€^  LECTURE  III. 

to  insist  most  strongly  on  the  material  view  of 
the  resurrection,  which  considers  men's  bodies 
will  be  composed  then  of  the  same  corruptible 
matter  as  they  are  now ;  that  identical  portion  of 
matter  being  changed  in  its  qualities  ;  have  yet 
spoken  in  a  manner  which  shews  how  sensible* 
they  were  of  the  difficulty  which  is  involved  in 
bringing  into  close  contact  the  ideas  of  change 
and  identity. 

Those  who  will  have  the  same  particles  re- 
stored to  the  resurrection-body,  which  were  depo- 
sited in  the  tomb,  must  assume  and  be  allowed 
these  two  propositions,  that  matter  is  indestruc- 
tible 2,  and  that  God  knows  every  atom  whereof 
we  are  made.  Now  Bishop  Pearson  ^  defines  a 
resurrection  to  be  'a  substantial  change  by  which 
that  which  w  as  before,  and  was  corrupted,  is  re- 
produced the  same  thing  again.'  By  substantial, 
he  means  not  accidental,  and  when  he  explains 
the  necessity  of  saying  'which  was  corrupted,'  he 
proceeds  thus,   '  things  immaterial  and  incorrup- 

^  Even  S.  Augustine,  Sermon  on  Romans  vii.  24.  (cliv.)  Tom.  vii. 
p.  741  :  '  Non  enim  sic  liberaberis  de  corpore  mortis  hujus  ut  hoc 
corpus  non  habeas.  Habcbis  seel  jam  non  mortis  hujus.  fysum 
erit,  sed  non  tpsnm  erit.  Ipsum  crit  quia  ipsa  caro  erit,  non  ipsum 
erit,  quia  mortale  non  erit.' 

2  S.  Augustin.  Sermo  lxxvii.  (cxxvii.  Benedictine  Ed.)  §  15: 
'Thou  wast  made  when  thou  wast  not  at  all;  and  dost  thou  not 
believe  that  those  boncs^  (for  in  whatever  state,  of  whatever  kind 
they  are,  yet  they  are)  shall  receive  the  form  which  they  once  had, 
when  thou  hadst  already  received  what  thou  hadst  not  ?'  p.  568, 
Oxford  Translation. 

^  On  the  Creed:   'He  rose  from  th(>  dead.' 


LECTURE  III.  67 

tible  cannot  be  said  to  rise  again,  resurrection 
implying  a  reproduction  ;  and  that  which  after  it 
was,  never  was  not,  cannot  be  reproduced.'  Now 
if  physiology  had  been  so  far  advanced  in  the 
time  of  this  great  divine,  that  it  had  been  shewn 
that  all  organized  forms  exist  rather  as  the  result 
of  peculiar  arrangements  and  affinities  between 
a  constantly  flowing  changeable  set  of  particles, 
than  as  permanent  juxtaposition  of  the  same  par- 
ticles, it  seems  clear  that  he  would  have  restricted 
his  definition  to  the  form  rather  than  to  the  sub- 
stance of  human  flesh. 

Joannes  Clericus  (Leclerc)  in  his  notes  on 
Grotius^  says  that  if  any  one  object  to  the  au- 
thor's words,  he  may  be  answered  that  it  is  not 
at  all  necessary  that  the  matter  be  the  same  in 
the  actual  number  of  particles,  as  that  which  was 
put  into  the  tomb  at  man's  death.  He  will  be 
the  same  man,  though  his  spirit  be  joined  to 
matter  with  which  it  never  was  joined  before, 
provided  only  it  be  the  same  spirit,  not  less  than 
it  is  the  same  man,  who  at  one  time  is  a  decrepit 
sexagenarian,  and  formerly  an  infant  in  the  cradle, 
though  not  a  single  particle  of  the  one  may  have 
belonged  to  the  other.  The  body  may  be  said  to 
rise  again  when  a  material  body  is  formed  of 
the  clay,  exactly  like  the  first,  and  the  same 
spirit  is  joined  to  it.  There  is  therefore  no  need 
that  we  should  involve  ourselves  in  difficulties  in 
defending  the  toutotj;?  of  matter  too  rigidly. 

^  See  the  place  cited  before,  Lecture  II.  (p.  39.) 

E  2 


68  LECTURE   III. 

And  Whitby  ^:  '  I  am  far  from  thinking  that 
to  the  raising  of  the  same  bodies  it  can  be  requi- 
site that  these  bodies  should  be  made  up  wholly 
of  the  same  particles  which  were  once  vitally 
united  to  their  souls  in  their  former  life,  without 
any  admixture  of  any  other  particle  of  matter  ; 
for  were  this  necessary  to  the  same  living  body, 
we  could  not  have  the  same  bodies  for  a  day ; 
and  if  it  be  not  necessary  to  make  the  body  con- 
tinue still  the  same  while  we  live,  it  cannot  be 
necessary  to  make  the  raised  body  the  same  with 
that  which  died.' 

And  Archbishop  Tillotson-  says :  *  The  diffi- 
culty of  these  objections  is  avoided  perfectly  by 
those  who  hold  that  it  is  not  necessary  that  our 
bodies  at  the  resurrection  should  consist  of  the 
very  same  parts  of  matter  that  they  did  before ; 
there  being  no  such  great  difference  between  one 
parcel  of  dust  and  another ;  neither  in  respect  of 
the  power  of  God,  which  can  as  easily  command 
this  parcel  of  dust  as  that  to  become  a  living  body, 
and  being  united  to  the  soul  to  rise  up  and  walk  : 
so  that  the  miracle  of  the  resurrection  will  be  all 
one  in  the  main,  whether  our  bodies  be  made  of 
the  very  same  matter  they  were  before,  or  not. 
Nor  will  there  be  any  difference  as  to  us  ;  for 
whatever  matter  our  bodies  be  made  of,  when 
they  are  once  reunited  to  our  souls,  they  will  then 
be  as  much  our  own  as  if  they  had  been  made  of 

^  Preface  to  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 
s  Sermon  cxl.  Vol.  ii.  fol.  Ed.  \^\^. 


LECTURE  III.  69 

the  very  same  matter  of  which  they  consisted 
before.  Besides  that  the  change  which  the  re- 
surrection will  make  in  our  bodies  will  be  so 
great,  that  we  could  not  know  them  to  be  the 
same,  though  they  were  so.' 

Without  agreeing  with  all  that  is  here  said, 
it  is  sufficient  to  shew  that  Archbishop  Tillotson, 
who  did  not  himself  entertain  the  opinion  which 
he  here  quotes  as  sufficient  to  obviate  all  diffi- 
culty, allowed  it  to  be  a  valid  answer  while  he 
adhered  to  the  more  popular  persuasion. 

There  is  then  no  abandonment  of  high  theo- 
logical precedent,  when  we  hesitate  to  admit  the 
idea  of  a  resurrection  of  the  same  material  par- 
ticles as  once  formed  the  man's  body.  Nor  are 
we  inconsistent  when  we  turn  to  the  mental  phi- 
losophers and  ask  for  their  definition  of  personal 
identity,  in  order  to  prove  that  no  such  preserva- 
tion of  the  selfsame  atomic  constituents  is  at  all 
necessary  to  secure  a  resurrection  of  the  same  man. 

The  reasons  urged  against  the  popular  under- 
standing are  : — 

1.  That  sameness  does  not  consist  in  iden- 
tity of  particles,  because  it  can  be  shewn  that 
the  same  man  is,  at  different  periods  of  his  life, 
composed  of  different  particles. 

2.  That  identity  of  the  individual  must  there- 
fore chiefly  be  a  mental  identity. 

3.  That  even  if  it  require  identity  of  particles 
in  any  degree,  yet  additions  to  or  subtractions 
from   them   may  be    made  without  that   identity 


70  LECTURE   III. 

being  destroyed.  And  from  physical  changes 
viewed  as  analogies,  such  as  when  a  piece  of  ice 
is  converted  into  steam,  we  may  argue  that  iden- 
tity of  particles  is  consistent  with  change  of  state 
to  any  conceivable  extents 

Before  proceeding  to  the  discussion  of  these 
points,  we  may  remark  that  there  is  no  strength 
in  the  argument  used  by  ancient  apologists^  and 
reiterated  by  modern  divines,  that  it  is  necessary, 
for  purposes  of  justice,  that  the  same  particles  of 
matter  should  suffer  happiness  or  misery,  ac- 
cording to  the  conduct  of  the  individuals  of  whom 
they  formed  part. 

This  is  untenable,  because  it  is  to  endow  the 
particles  of  matter  with  qualities  of  desert,  or 
culpability,  which  can  only  attach  to  the  moral 
agent;  it  extends  to  the  mere  instruments  of  action 
the  guilt  of  the  actor :  and  though  it  be  said  that 
under  the   law   of  Moses  we    have  examples  of 

^  Though  in  a  succession  of  related  objects  it  be  in  a  manner 
requisite  that  the  change  of  parts  be  not  sudden  nor  entire  in  order 
to  preserve  the  identity ;  yet  where  the  objects  are  in  their  nature 
changeable  and  inconstant,  we  admit  a  more  sudden  transition  than 
would  be  otherwise  consistent  with  that  relation. 

2  TertulUan  cle  Test'imomo  Animce,  c.  4  :  '  Necessario  tibi  sub- 
stantiam  pristinam  ejusdemque  hominis  materiam  et  memoriam  re- 
versuram  quod  ct  nihil  mali  ac  boni  sentire  possis  sine  carnis  pas- 
sionalis  facultate,  et  nulla  ratio  sit  judicii  sine  ipsius  exhibitione,  qui 
meruit  judicii  passionem.' — De  Besur.  Carnis,  c.  ^Q.  Pearson  on 
the  Creed,  Art.  Resurrection  of  the  Dead.  See  also  TertulUan's 
Apology,  c.  48.  Tatian,  c.  6.  Athenag.  18—22.  de  Res.  14.  5. 
Ambrose  de  Fid.  Res.  §  88.  Ci/ril  Jer.  xviii.  19.  Amir.  Exh. 
Virg.  c.  9.  §  59.  quoted  in  the  notes  to  the  English  Translation  of 
TertulUan  in  the  Library  of  the  Fathers. 


LECTURE  III.  71 

inanimate  or  irrational  instruments  of  sin  being 
condemned  to  destruction ^  which  seems  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  to  justify  the  idea  of  the  material 
wherewith  sin  is  committed,  being  involved  in  the 
condemnation  incurred  by  the  sinner  ;  yet  most 
thinking  persons  will  be  prepared  to  admit  that 
the  examples  thus  exhibited  must  have  been  de- 
signed to  teach  a  dull  and  gross-minded  people 
the  sinfulness  of  sin,  rather  than  to  exhibit  a  ven- 
geance taken  upon  material  instruments.  By 
means  of  our  present  bodies  sensations  of  pain 
or  pleasure  may  be  conveyed  to  the  soul.  The 
risen  body  may  in  like  manner  be  made  the  in- 
strument of  this  dispensation  ;  the  result  will  be 
the  same,  whether  the  same  particles  be  employed 
or  not.  In  the  sentencing  of  moral  agents  we 
admit  the  idea  of  retribution  ;  but  to  irrational 
substances  this  cannot  extend.  They  cannot  have 
any  either  hateful  or  commendatory  qualities  in 
the  sight  of  the  Divine  Artificer :  there  can  there- 
fore be  no  peculiar  necessity  that  material  parti- 
cles should  be  doomed  to  particular  states  from 

^  In  the  Old  Testament.  The  passage  in  S.  Jude,  ver.  22,  which 
appears  to  point  at  the  same  hatred  of  material  substances  as  we  see 
displayed  in  instruments  of  sin  under  the  old  covenant,  seems  not  to 
be  rightly  translated.  See  Dr  Peile's  note.  He  says  the  ordinary 
translation  would  require  tov  diro  Trj<;  aapKo^  a-iriXinQeuTa  ^irtoi/a — 
instead  of  tov  citto  rrj^  (rapK6<;  eo-TTfAw/xefoi/  T^iTwya,  which  he  trans- 
lates, abhorring  even  that  soiled  garment  tchich  cometh  of  the  jlesh  ; 
that  active  principle  which  is  still  lurking  in  our  earthly  members 
and  found  in  opposition  to  the  heaven-sent  and  engrafted  principle 
of  the  Spirit,  so  that  the  garment  here  is  taken  to  mean  the  deprava- 
tion of  nature  which  remaineth  even  in  the  regenerate.  See  also 
Burnet^  De  Statu  Mortnorum  et  Resurgaitium,  c.  ix.  p.  197. 


72  LECTURE   III. 

their  accidental  connexion  with  a  particular  hu- 
man body,  and  if  they  are,  we  cannot  discern  any 
special  object  therein,  for  only  sentient  beings 
can  be  capable  of  moral  retribution,  in  the  sense 
of  feeling  or  perceiving  why  they  are  thus  sub- 
jected to  it ;  and  in  the  case  of  the  general  judg- 
ment the  punishment,  for  example's  sake,  would 
not  have  place. 

It  is  also  a  considerable  argument  against  this 
view,  that  by  the  constant  flux  of  particles  in  the 
human  body,  the  individual  in  the  sense  thus 
insisted  on,  cannot  at  his  death  be  at  all  the 
same  as  he  who  years  before  committed  acts  de- 
serving punishment ;  so  that  in  this  regard  the 
argument  itself  would  prove  that  the  risen  body 
must  contain  many  more  particles  than  what  it 
had  in  its  composition  at  the  time  of  death. 

It  is  by  reflections  such  as  these  that  men 
have  been  led  to  the  conclusion  that  it  can  be  of 
little  consequence  to  personal  identity  that  ma- 
terial particles  should  be  the  same.  The  obser- 
vations of  Sir  Kenehn  Dighy,  on  the  Religio  3fe- 
dici,  contain  the  following  remark  :  '  Methinks 
it  is  a  gross  conception  to  think  that  every  atom 
of  the  present  individual  matter  of  a  body,  every 
grain  of  ashes  of  a  buried  corpse,  scattered  by  the 
wind  throughout  the  world,  and  after  numerous 
variations,  changed  peradventure  into  the  body 
of  another  man,  should  at  the  sounding  of  the 
last  trumpet  be  raked  together  again  from  all 
the  corners  of  the  earth,  and  be  made  up  anew 


LECTURE  III.  73 

into  the  same  body  it  was  before  ^'  And  Dr 
Thomas  Burnet,  in  his  Treatise  de  Statu  Mortuo- 
rum  et  Re sur gentium  (c.  ix.  p.  205)  writes  in  the 
same  strain. 

In  what  then  consists  identity?  LocJce  first  of 
all  gives  us  a  clear  notion  of  what  he  had  resolved 
it  to  be.  He  himself  sums  it  up  in  the  words,  '  Con- 
sciousness makes  the  same  person.'  That  the  same 
immaterial  substance  or  soul,  alone,  or  wherever 
it  may  be,  or  in  whatsoever  state,  makes  the  same 
man,  he  rejects  absolutely.  This  was  the  conclu- 
sion to  which  Cicero  had  arrived  in  the  Somnium 
Scipionis^.     '  You  are  not   mortal,   but   only  this 

^  '  Yet  if  we  will  be  Christians,  and  rely  upon  God's  promises 
we  must  believe  that  we  shall  rise  again  with  the  same  body  that 
walked  about,  did  eat,  drink,  and  live,  here  on  earth,  and  that  we 
shall  see  our  Saviour  and  Redeemer  with  the  same,  the  very  same 
eyes,  wherewith  we  now  look  upon  the  fading  glories  of  this  con- 
temptible world.' 

'  How  shall  these  seeming  contrarieties  be  reconciled  ?  If  the  latter 
be  true,  why  should  not  the  former  be  admitted?'  He  then  asks 
Lord  Dorset  if  he  think  he  have  now  the  same  eyes  and  same  person 
as  in  early  youth,  and  in  infancy,  and  continues,  '  How  can  this  body 
be  now  called  the  same  as  it  was  forty  years  ago  unless  some  higher 
consideration  keep  up  the  identity  of  it  V  and  he  concludes,  that  the 
foryn  remains,  and  that  matter  by  itself  hath  no  distinction ;  and 
then  says,  'It  is  evident  that  sameness,  t/iisness,  tkatness,  belonweth 
not  to  matter  by  itself  (for  a  general  indifference  runneth  through 
it  all)  but  only  as  it  is  distinguished  and  individuated  by  the  form, 
which  in  our  case,  whensoever  the  same  soul  doth,  it  must  be  under- 
stood always  to  be  the  same  matter  and  the  same  body.' — Observa- 
tions upon  the  Religio  Medici,  by  Sir  K.  Dighj,  Knt.  5th  Ed.  Lond. 
1672,  pp.  134—136. 

2  '  Sic  habeto :  non  esse  te  mortalem  sed  corpus  hoc ;  non  enim 
tu  is  es,  quam  forma  ista  declarat:  sed  mens  cujusque  is  est  quisque, 
non  ea  figura  qua  digito  demonstrari  potest.' — Cicero,  Somnium  Set- 


74  LECTURE   III. 

body  of  yours  :  for  you  are  not  the  being  whom 
this  outward  form  desig^nates;  each  man's  mens 
is  the  man  himself,  not  the  form  which  can  be 
indicated  by  the  finger.'  Assuming  therefore  the 
necessity  of  a  body,  or  of  the  constitution  of  men 
remaining  as  it  now  is,  so  that  he  is  a  compound 
being,  Locke  repeats  in  several  places  in  his 
chapter  on  Identity  his  definition  :  '  The  identity 
of  the  same  man  consists  in  nothing  but  a  par- 
ticipation of  the  same  continued  life,  by  con- 
stantly fleeting  particles  of  matter  in  succession, 
vitally  united  to  the  same  organized  body^;'  and 
we  know  ourselves  to  be  the  same  by  conscious- 
ness. It  was  objected  to  Locke,  as  by  Bishop 
Butler,  that  consciousness  of  personal  identity, 
pre-supposes,  and  therefore  cannot  constitute  per- 
sonal identity,  any  more  than  knowledge  in  any 
other  case  can  constitute  truth  2.  Consciousness 
of  past  actions  does  indeed  shew  us  the  identity 
of  ourselves,  or  gives  us  a  certain  assurance  that 

pionis,  followinjT  Zeno  (as  he  says  in  Academ.  Lib.  iv.) :  '  Zeno, 
quasi  corporis  sirnus  expertes,  animum  solum  coniplectitur ;'  and  see 
the  Commentary  oi Macrohius^lAh.  ii.  Bipont.  Ed.  Vol.  ii.  pp.  164—6. 
Marcus  Antoninus,  Med.  Lib.  xii.  3.  Tp'ia  earw  ef  thv  a-vvea-TtjKu^, 
amfxanov,  •nvevfxd'Ttov,  voZ<i'  tovtwv  tu  aWa  jwe^p'  tov  eTrtfjieXeTa-dai 
Se?!/,  ad  i<TTt'  to  le  Tp'trov  fxovov  Kvpita<:  a-dv. — Plato,  in  Alcibiad.  I. 
ovTe  TO  a-wfxa,  ovt£  crvvajxcpOTepov  ecmv  a.vQpiaTro':...\eitreTai  fxritiu 
uWo  Tov  uvQpunrov  elvcti  17  x/zuT^r/i/. — Aristotle,  Eth.  IX.  4.  hd^ete  3'  aV 
TO  voovu  cKacTTo?  6ivai,  >7  fxaXia-Ta.  But  Tertulllan  recognises  the 
christian  truth,  De  Resur.  c.  33,  'tarn  corpus  homo,  quam  et  anima;' 
and  adv.  Marcion.  i.  24. 

^  Essai/  on  Human  Understanding/,  11.  27-  6. 

2  In  the  same  way  Hume  objects  reasonably  to  memory  pro- 
ducing personal  identity,  it  rather  discovers  it.     See  his  Essays. 


LECTURE  III.  75 

we  are  the  same  persons  or  living  agents  now 
wliich  we  were  at  the  time  to  which  our  remem- 
brance can  look  back  :  but  still  we  should  be  the 
same  persons  as  we  were,  though  this  conscious- 
ness of  what  is  past  were  wanting,  though  all  that 
had  been  done  by  us  formerly  were  forgotten. 

The  chief  defect  which  Butler,  and  after  him 
Dr  Reid\  find  in  Locke's  definition,  is  the  want 
of  the  introduction  of  an  idea  of  continuance^  and 
succession.  And  the  latter  says,  '  Continued 
uninterrupted  existence  is  necessarily  implied  in 
identity,  and  the  proper  evidence  which  we  have 
of  it  is  remembrance.'  The  remembrance  not 
being  necessary  to  constitute  identity,  but  only 
necessary  to  make  us  aware  of  our  identity ;  and 
he  concludes  the  fourth  Chapter  of  his  third 
Essay  with  the  following  remark  : 

'  The  identity  which  we  ascribe  to  bodies  is 
not  perfect  identity  ;  it  is  rather  something  which 
for  convenience  of  speech  we  call  identity.  It 
admits  of  a  great  change  of  the  subject,  providing 
the  change  be  gradual,  sometimes  even  of  a  total 
change,  and  the  changes  which  in  common  lan- 
guage are  made  consistent  with   identity,   differ 

^  Dr  Rc'kTs  EssciT/s^  iii.  1. 

2  '  The  grain  of  wheat  is  cast  into  the  ground ;  the  full  and  per- 
fect stem,  blade  and  ear,  spring  from  it;  all  differing  from  the 
original  seed  in  form,  size,  colour,  and  in  their  constituent  material 
particles;  yet  the  continuity  of  existence  is  never  for  a  moment  in- 
terrupted, but  whilst  minute  portions  of  the  substance  are  succes- 
sively withdrawn,  the  gradual  substitution  and  assimilation  of  others 

build  up  the  entire  plant  to  the  full  development  of  its  growth.' 

Bishop  ShuttJeworth  on  J  Cor.  xv.  quoted  by  Dr  Peile. 


761  LECTURE  III. 

from  those  that  are  thought  to  destroy  it,  not  in 
kind,  but  in  number  and  degree.  It  has  no  fixed 
nature  when  applied  to  bodies ;  and  questions 
about  the  identity  of  a  body  are  very  often  ques- 
tions about  words.  But  identity  when  applied  to 
persons  has  no  ambiguity,  and  admits  not  of  de- 
grees, or  of  more  and  less  :  it  is  the  foundation  of 
all  rights  and  obligations,  and  of  all  accountable- 
ness ;  and  the  notion  of  it  is  fixed  and  precise. 

'  My  personal  identity  implies  the  continued 
existence  of  that  indivisible  thing  which  I  call 
myself,  and  I  am  conscious  of  being  the  same  by 
an  exercise  of  memory.' 

Dr  Brown  ^  determines,  I  think  most  clearly, 

^  The  belief  of  personal,  or  as  he  prefers  calling  it,  mental  identity, 
arises  not  from  any  inference  of  reasoning,  but  from  a  principle  of 
intuitive  assent,  operating  universally,  immediately,  irresistibly,  and 
therefore  justly  to  be  regarded  as  essential  to  our  constitution, — a 
principle  exactly  of  the  same  kind,  as  those  to  which  reasoning 
itself  must  ultimately  be  traced,  and  from  which  alone  its  consecutive 
series  of  propositions  can  derive  any  authority.  This  belief,  though 
intuitive,  is  not  involved  in  any  one  of  our  separate  feelings,  which 
considered  merely  as  present,  might  succeed  each  other  in  endless 
variety  without  affording  any  notion  of  a  sentient  being,  more  per- 
manent than  the  sensation  itself,  but  that  it  arises,  on  the  considera- 
tion of  our  feelings  as  successive,  in  the  same  manner  as  our  belief 
of  proportion  or  relation  in  general  arises,  not  from  the  conception 
of  one  of  the  related  objects  or  ideas,  but  only  after  the  previous 
conception  of  both  the  relative  and  the  correlative;  or  rather  that  the 
belief  of  identity  does  not  arise  as  subsequent,  but  is  involved  in  the 
very  remembrance  which  allows  us  to  consider  our  feelings  as  suc- 
cessive, since  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  regard  them  as  successive, 
without  regarding  them  as  feelings  of  our  sentient  self :  not  flowing, 
therefore,  from  experience  or  reasoning  but  essential  to  them,  and 
necessarily  implied  in  them,  since  there  can  be  no  result  in  experience. 


LECTURE   III.  77 

that  the  result  of  all  this  is,  that  mental'  identity 
would  be  a  more  correct  expression  than  personal 
identity,  and  that  memory  is  the  evidence  we 
have  of  identity.  Consciousness  is  evidence  of 
present  identity,  and  the  memory  of  past  con- 
sciousnesses the  evidence  of  our  being  now  the 
same  beings  that  we  were  at  a  previous  time. 

Let  us  now  add  to  this  the  presumption  that 
we  have  of  the  perfection  of  our  faculties  in  the 
risen  state,  and  we  should  get  a  perfect  memory 
which  would  make  us  entirely  certain  of  the  iden- 
tity of  ourselves  with  our  past  man  ;  and  though 
we  concluded  in  the  last  Lecture  that  a  similarity 
of  outward  form  seemed  to  be  presumable  from 
the  risen  body  of  our  Saviour,  yet  now  we  are 
able  to  dispense  with  this;  for  recognition  in  the 
perfected  state  of  the  faculties  may  be  quite  in- 
dependent of  any  bodily  quality^.  We  may  be 
able  to  have  cognizance  of  the  consciousness  of 
others  in  some  way  of  which  now  we  are  ignorant, 

but  in  the  mind  which  remembers  that  it  has  previously  observed, 
and  no  reasoning  bvit  to  the  mind  which  remembers  that  it  has  felt 
the  truth  of  some  proposition  from  which  the  truth  of  its  present 
conclusion  is  derived. — Dr  Broicn's  Lectures  on  the  Philosophy  of 
the  Human  Mind,  Lect.  xv,  pp.  336,  7- 

1  See  a  curious  Tract  called  '  man  in  quest  of  himself  in  the 
•  metaphysical  Tracts  by  English  Philosophers  of  the  18th  century,' 
edited  by  Dr  S.  Parr. — The  author  was  Abraham  Tucker. 

2  Thus  S.  Augustine  explains  the  saying,  We  shall  see  Him  as 
He  is,  'De  visione  Dei  secundum  interiorem  hominem  certissimi 
simus.  Si  autem  etiam  corpus  mira  commutatione  hoc  valuerit, 
aliud  accedet,  non  illud  abscedet.' — Commonitorium  ad  Fortunatia- 
num,  seu  Ep.  cxlviii. 


78  LECTURE  III. 

and  thus  should  not  require  any  material  re- 
semblance to  facilitate  recognition.  S.  Paul  says, 
we  know  that  '  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall 
see  him  as  he  is  ;'  and  again,  '  then  shall  we  know 
even  as  we  are  known.'  May  we  not  conclude 
from  these  sayings  that  the  perceptive  and  reflec- 
tive faculties  shall  be  enhanced  in  some  won- 
derful manner,  and  thus  the  risen  man  be  capable 
of  knowing  others  and  knowing  himself,  without 
those  aids  which  we  now  require  to  enable  us  to 
do  so?  so  that  mental  identity  may  be  sufficient 
in  all  respects  to  constitute  our  ideas  oi  sameness^. 
Thus  man  is  composed  of  a  living  body  and 
a  rational  soul,  according  to  ordinary  phraseo- 
logy;  or  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  according  to 
that  of  S.  Paul ;  the  body  and  soul  in  the  latter 
case  corresponding  to  the  living  body  with  parts 
and  passions  in  the  former,  the  rational  soul  of 
ordinary  language  to  the  spirit  of  the  apostolical 
epistles.     That  which  M.  Antoninus^  calls  awMa, 

1  Mr  Mill  {on  the  Human  Mind,  Vol.  ii.  p.  132),  '  The  life  of 
man  is  a  series  of  antecedents  and  consequents,  known  by  experience, 
i.e.  sensation,  memory,  and  other  cases  of  association.  Evidence  of 
my  own  personal  identity  is  the  memory  of  a  chain  of  states  of  con- 
sciousness.' 

2  Marci  Antonini  Meditationes,  Lib.  ii.  §  2,  Lib.  iii.  §  10,  Lib. 
XII.  §3.  Josephiis,  Antiq.l.  1.  2:  eVAao-ei/  6  Geos  tov  avdpwTroi', 
yovv  diro  Trj<s  yt]^  \a(imv,  Ka\  Trvevfxa  evoiKev  avTw,  Kai  ^f/v^t'ji/, 

S.  Paul  also  uses  (yiSfxa,  yjyvj^t^,  vovv^  in  Rom.  vii.  25. 

There  is  also  another  use  of  the  word  •4/vx^t]  to  signify  the  will, 
in  which  case  a-iSfxa  is  the  body  including  the  senses  and  sensitive 
appetites  seated  in  the  body,  the  flesh  and  the  members,  as  opposed 
to  the  spirit  and  the  mind.  The  >|/i^X''  "^^d  as  the  toill,  is  called 
\l/vx>i  TrpuKTiKti.     To  the  (Twfxa  thus  understood  pertains  rd  irddri, 


LECTURE  III.  79 

"^v-^rj,  vov^i  is  the   actj/xa,  ^vy^r},  irveufxa   of  S.    Paul,    OF 

the  <Tw/ua  yj/vxiKov  and  -rrved/xa  of  the  15th  chapter  of 
the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  If  during 
this  life  by  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God, 
the  TTveviaa  of  man  be  restored  to  its  dominion  in 
the  human  trilogy,  so  as  to  have  ascendancy  over 
the  crwfjLa  and  ^|/l'x>7,  or  (xwfxa  yj/u-x^iKof,  then  the  man 
will  be  raised  to  eternal  glory.  The  Trvevfxa,  which 
had  returned  to  God  when  the  natural  body  de- 
cayed, and  the  ^vxn  or  principle  of  animal  life 
was  suspended  S  must  at  the  resurrection  be  re- 
united to  a  body,  with  a  principle  of  life,  in  order 
that  7ncm  may  be  raised  again  or  restored :  but 
this  body  shall  be  changed,  and  all  the  Epithu- 
metic  part  of  the  ^^wxt],  which  tended  to  corrup- 
tion, shall  be  abolished.  '  This  mortal  must  put 
on  immortality,  and  this  corruption  must  put  on 
incorruption.'  The  body  is  not  to  be  altogether 
lost :  nor  the  existence  to  be  altogether  spiritual 2. 

iTTiQvjjiLa,  and  what  Philo  calls  to  QtjXv.  Socrates  calls  it  J'tttto?,  and 
the  intellectual  faculty  is  tjvioxo^,  its  rider.  In  S.  Paul  the  spirit 
is  I'ouc,  Sia'i/oia,  o-ui/eo-i?.  Between  them  is  this  ■^rv^rj,  as  Irenceus, 
'  Anima  est  quidem  inter  hasc  duo,  ahquando  subsequens  spiritum 
elevatur  ab  eo,  aliquando  autem  consentiens  carni  decidit  in  terrenas 
concupiscentias.'  See  a  learned  and  interesting  note  of  Dr  Ham- 
mond on  1  Thess.  v.  23,  where  the  references  are  given  for  what  is 
mentioned  above. 

^  ^//ux^7,  the  principle  of  animal  life.     Juvenal,  Sat.  xv.  148: 
'  Mundi 
Principio  indulsit  conmiunis  conditor  illis  (sc.  gregis  mutorum) 
Tantum  animas,  nobis  animum  quoque,'  &c. 

Seneca,  Ep.  lviii.:  '  Animantia  quemadmodum  divido  ?  ut  dicani, 
quaedam  animum  habent,  queedam  tantum  animam.' 

2  '  De  spiritali  corpore,  quod  in  resurrectione  habebimus,  quan- 


80  LECTURE  III. 

The  spirit  is  to  be  reunited  to  a  living  body,  to 
be  clothed  upon  with  '  our  house  from  heaven,'  all 
that  tended  to  mortality  in  it  being  '  swallowed 
up  of  life.' 

In  the  new  state  the  man  will  be  conscious 
that  he  is  the  same  person  who  lived,  and  acted 
his  part  on  earth,  who  believed,  and  who  died  ; 
having  perfect  memory  of  all  past  consciousnesses, 
perfect  apprehension  of  his  past  relation  to  other 
beings  and  of  their  present  relation  to  him,  and 
thus  he  will  know  that  he  is  the  same  Individual 
being,  when  he  anew  walks  the  earth,  and  in  the 
certainty  of  this  identity,  personality,  individu- 
ality, he  will  commence,  in  complete  manhood, 
the  Life  Everlasting. 

And  as  far  as  identity  is  concerned,  the  same 
must  be  true  of  the  bodies  of  the  wicked  as  well 
as  of  the  righteous;  we  may  reasonably  conjec- 
ture (in  the  silence  of  Holy  Scripture)  that  in  all 
glorious  qualities  attaching  to  the  risen  body  of 
the  just,  there  must  be  a  marked  distinction,  while 
we  conceive  them  to  have  perfect  consciousness 
of  identity,  both  of  themselves  and  others,  and 

turn  capiat  in  melius  commutationem,  utrum  in  simplicitatem  spi- 
ritus  cedat,  ut  totus  nemo  jam  spiritus  sit ;  an  quod  magis  puto,  sed 
nondum  plena  fiducia  confirmo,  ita  futurum  sit  spiritale  corpus,  ut 
propter  inefFabilem  quamdam  facilitatem  spiritale  dicatur,  servet 
tamen  substantiam  corporalem,  qu^  per  seipsam  vivere  ac  sentire 
non  possit,  sed  per  ilium  qui  ea  utitur  spiritum,  &c....multa  alia 
quae  in  hac  questione  movere  (forte  moveri)  possunt,  fateor  me  non- 
dum alicubi  legisse  quod  mihi  sufficere  existimarem  sive  ad  dis- 
cendum  sive  ad  docendum.' — S.  Augustin.  Commonitorium  ad  For- 
tunatianum,  §  16, 


LECTURE  Iir.  81 

also  that  they  will  be  incorruptible,  that  is,  fitted 
for  the  Future  Life  of  Condemnation ^ 

In  all  this  it  has  been  my  endeavour,  following 
the  light  of  reason,  in  submission  to  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, to  shew  wherein  identity  of  persons  in  the 
resurrection  consists  ;  to  make  it  plain  that  such 
identity  involves  no  contradictions,  such  as  are 
alleged  against  the  supposition  of  numerical  same- 
ness of  particles ;  to  indicate  the  method  by  which 
it  is  shewn  to  be  reasonable  that  the  risen  man 
should  be  called  the  same  perso7i,  even  though 
there  be  no  single  particle  of  matter  in  the  risen 
body  which  pertained  to  the  mortal  body,  viz. 
this, — by  reducing  the  idea  of  identity  to  sameness 
of  the  spirit  or  intellectual  part  of  man  ;  and  so 
without  any  call  upon  faith  for  singular  physical 
and  carnal  conceptions  of  identity  of  substance, 
to  make  good  the  declaration  of  Holy  Scripture, 
that  all  mankind  will  be  raised  again  incorrupt- 
ible, to  undergo  a  judgment,  which  each  indivi- 
dual man  will  be  convinced  is  several,  as  far  as 

^  S.  Augustini  Sermo  ccclxii.  De  Resurrectione  :  'Qui  antea 
in  Spiritu  per  fidem  non  resurrexerint,  non  ad  illain  commutationem 
resurgent  in  corpore  ubi  assumetur  et  absorbebitur  omiiis  corruptio, 
sed  ad  illam  pcenalem  integritatem.  Nam  integra  erunt  et  corpora 
impiorum,  nibil  ex  iis  imniinutum  apparebit,  sed  ad  poenam  erit 
integritas  corporis  et  quaedam,  ut  ita  dicam,  queedam  firmitas  cor- 
poris, corruptibilis  firmitas,  &c.'  S.  Clirysostom^  Homily  x.  on  2 
Ef.  ad  Cor.  :  tj  /Jiev  yap  dvda-Taa-ii  Koivrj  Trduroov,  rj  Se  ^d^a  ovKe-rt  kowi], 
a\\  o'l  fXiv  €v  Ti/Jir],  ot  ce  ev  a-rifxia,  Kai  ol  fxev  el<;  pacriXeiav,  o'l  ce  e<<? 
KoXaa-iv  di'aa-TtjaovTai.  Homil.  de  Resurrectione  Mortuorum :  Ka\ 
yap  TO  (TwpaTa  twi/  apapTuXmv  acpuapTa  avtcrTauTai  kcii  avavaTa' 
d\\'  ri  Tifxr]  avTV]  t(f)oZiov  avToTv  KoXaaeax;  yiverai  koi  Ttpwpiav. 
(iCpdapTa  y(tp    avlcTTaTai^   'ivn    dtaTrnvT0<;    Kattj-rat. 

H.  L.  F 


82  LECTURE  III. 

he  is  concerned ;  that  the  words,  '  Every  man 
shall  bear  his  own  burden,'  are  verified  with  scru- 
pulous exactness ;  and  that  we  shall  receive  the 
things  done  in  the  body  with  perfect  conscious- 
ness of  the  justice  and  equity  of  the  sentence. 

Without  attempting  to  investigate  or  conjecture 
further  about  the  pneumatic  body,  we  may  yet 
perhaps  be  allowed  to  suggest  that  certain  adap- 
tations of  the  body  to  the  governing  principle  of 
spirit  (to  -nyeixoviKov  of  Antoninus)  may  be  retained; 
for  as  we  have  been  accustomed  to  receive  per- 
ceptions of  external  things  by  the  senses,  and  to 
manifest  volition  by  the  bodily  organs,  it  is  rea- 
sonable to  connect  these  organs  in  the  memory 
with  those  perceptions  and  volitions ;  and  the  pe- 
culiar intellectual  mode  which  is  the  joint  result 
of  this  conduct  of  the  understanding,  and  exer- 
cise of  the  bodily  powers,  both  outwardly  and  in- 
wardly, may  actually  constitute  the  identity  which 
we  are  seeking  to  define ;  and  if  so,  we  shall  see 
herein  an  additional  reason  for  the  restoration  of 
the  body  to  constitute  the  same  man,  because  it 
is,  as  Tertullian^  writes,  'the  cogitatorium  of  the 
soul.'     Caro  omne  animcB  cogitatorium. 

In  the  Old  Testament  we  have  the  return  of 
the  Spirit  to  Him  who  gave  it,  as  the  guarantee 
of  the  preservation  of  identity.  In  the  New  we 
get  the  further  notion,  that  in  this  life  men's 
bodies  are  made  the  Temples  of  the  Holy  Ghosts 

'  T>e  Resurrectione  Carnis,  §  15. 

2  This  expression  is  sometimes  objected  to,  but  I  am  unable  to 


LECTURE  III.  83 

and  therefore  shall  hereafter  be  redeemed  from 
their  inheritance  of  corruption,  and  when  changed 
from  the  natural  to  the  spiritual,  shall  be  re-united 
to  the  same  spirit ;  and  thus  the  revelation  of  the 
Gospel  in  this  matter  is  a  revelation  of  the  sal- 
vation of  the  whole  man,  of  his  being  transferred 
from  the  human  tribe  where  the  mundane  prin- 
ciple is  predominant,  to  the  new  human  tribe 
where  the  spirit  is  predominant. 

The  quickening  of  men's  mortal  bodies  by  the 
Spirit  is  the  expression  of  this  change,  and  the 
mode  in  which  the  Scriptures  speak  of  it  allows 
us  to  speak  of  it  also  as  the  actual  raising  of  man's 
body  in  a  new  state,  and  justifies  us  in  so  doing. 

While  therefore  we  consider  it  as  undoubted 
that  the  glorified  body  is  very  different  in  its 
qualities  and  in  its  substance  from  those  which 
we  now  have,  yet  as  the  risen  body  is  ours,  as 
w  ell  as  the  body  in  which  we  now  dwell,  in  respect 
of  this  property  of  being  ours,  it  is  the  same.  If 
man  will  be  conscious  that  he  is  the  same  being, 
his  resurrection-body  will  be  His  body,  and  the 
memory  of  past  consciousnesses  of  connexion  with 
the  body,  will,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  make 
it  to  him  the  very  same. 

This  remark  I  make  because  it  seems  to  me 
that  in  addressing  the  majority  of  mankind,  who 

discover  why.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  collective  body  of  Chris- 
tians is  called  the  Temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  1  Cor.  iii.  16,  and 
2  Cor.  vi,  'iQ,  Ephes.  ii.  21,  22;  and  as  little  doubt  is  there  that  each 
Christian's  body  is  called  the  Temple  6f  the  Holy  Ghost  in  1  Cor. 
vi.  19.     Sea  Macknight's  note  on  the  latter  passage. 

F2 


84  LECTURE  III. 

will  not  attend  to  the  metaphysical  distinctions 
which  obviate  difficulties,  we  must  adhere  to  the 
way  in  which  the  revealed  Word  of  God  treats 
these  matters.  It  is  of  immense  importance  that 
we  lose  not  the  idea  of  final  retribution  to  ourselves 
individuallij ;  and  if  our  Lord,  in  urging  men  to 
the  sacrifice  of  those  inclinations  which  are  most 
dear  to  us,  in  order  to  avoid  wrath  to  come,  uses 
illustrations  taken  from  the  notion  of  our  present 
bodies  continuing  in  the  new  state  of  existence, 
we  ought  not  to  shrink  from  using  the  same  for- 
cible and  earnest  monitions.  We  may  defend  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  from  cavils 
by  shewing  that  we  do  not  require  any  faith  in 
things  contradictory :  we  may  admit,  as  I  have 
done,  a  purely  mental  Identity  as  satisfying  me- 
taphysical ideas  of  sameness  in  individual  per- 
sons; but  this  is  not  to  draw  us  into  an  abandon- 
ment of  the  scriptural  mode  of  speaking,  which 
is  no  doubt  intended,  in  the  wisest  manner  pos- 
sible, to  influence  the  majority  of  mankind,  and 
is  adapted  to  its  end  by  the  wisdom  of  the  Divine 
Spirit.  We  must  not,  in  compliment  to  the  scru- 
pulous and  captious  reasoner,  preach  the  Gospel 
in  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  in 
words  which  God  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth.  How 
shall  the  divine  message  be  made  most  eflectual 
to  reclaim  men  from  sin  ?  This  it  is  our  bounden 
duty  to  inquire ;  and  though  with  some  men  it 
may  be  necessary  to  make  such  distinctions  and 
admissions  as  shall  secure  their  assent,  and  for  this 


LECTURE  III.  85 

purpose  it  may  be  shewn  that  the  Scriptures  do 
not  contradict  any  well-founded  metaphysical 
conclusions,  yet  there  are  others  whose  minds, 
not  being  keenly  sensitive  to  these  scruples,  would 
fail  to  be  touched  if  they  are  addressed  in  the 
guarded  language  of  the  schools.  'Who  knoweth 
the  things  of  a  man,  ^ave  the  spirit  of  man  which 
is  in  him  V  The  wise  must  be  taken  in  their  own 
craftiness,  but  others  in  their  simplicity.  As 
therefore  the  Spirit  of  God  searcheth  all  things, 
yea,  the  deep  things  of  God,  no  one  can  know 
these  things  but  that  Divine  Spirit,  and  in  His 
words  are  we  to  teach  and  exhort  men  to  flee 
from  perdition. 

Now  our  Saviour  tells  us  that  it  is  better  to 
enter  into  life  maimed,  or  halt,  or  deprived  of  our 
bodily  organs,  than  to  preserve  our  members 
which  are  the  instruments  of  sin  to  us,  and  to  be 
cast  into  hell,  '  the  fire  that  never  shall  be 
quenched,  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the 
fire  is  not  quenched.'  I  do  not  then  hesitate  to 
address  the  same  warnings  now  to  myself  and 
others.  I  fear  lest  by  the  idea  of  change  in  the 
body,  I  should  weaken  the  appeal  which  is  made 
to  me  as  to  the  reality  of  the  life  to  come,  lest  I 
should  be  apt  to  consider  these  things  as  be- 
longing to  a  state  far  from  me,  and  from  my  pre- 
sent impressions  and  feelings ;  and  I  try  to  arouse 
myself  by  such  appeals  as  the  following  : 

*'  Remember,  O  man,  that  the  Resurrection  to 
which  we  are   to  be  called  at  the  day  of  God's 


86  LECTURE  III. 

just  judgment  is  a  Resurrection  of  the  Body. 
That  this  sentient  frame  in  which  thou  now  dwell- 
est,  thine  own  body,  is  to  be  restored  again  with 
enlarged  capabilities  and  an  infinite  capacity  for 
happiness  or  woe. 

"  The  record  of  thy  past  actions  shall  be  un- 
erring;  the  Judge  incorruptible  and  omniscient; 
the  sentence  one  that  cannot  be  avoided.  And  all 
this  thou  must  meet  as  a  man  :  thine  own  body 
shall  be  there  united  to  thine  own  soul.  And 
these  members,  which  every  one  loveth  and  che- 
risheth,  shall  be  there,  and  shall  at  the  bidding 
of  the  Almighty  be  ready  to  turn  informers 
against  thee,  and  bear  testimony  to  past  sins  un- 
repented  of.  From  thine  own  body  shall  come 
the  sentence  of  death.  There  shall  be  the  hand 
that  hath  been  put  forth  to  take  unlawful  gains, 
that  hath  been  lifted  against  thy  brother,  or  been 
raised  in  reckless  impiety  to  mock  the  Most  High. 
There  shall  be  the  foot  that  hath  walked  in  the 
way  of  sinners,  that  hath  been  swift  to  shed  in- 
nocent blood,  that  hath  spurned  the  widow  and 
the  fatherless.  There  shall  be  the  eye  that  hath 
glared  in  malice  or  pierced  in  envy  ;  the  eye  that 
hath  been  a  willing  inlet  of  lust  upon  the  pas- 
sions. And  the  tongue, — that  world  of  iniquity, — 
the  tongue  that  hath  lied,  the  tongue  that  hath 
spoken  blasphemy,  the  tongue  that  hath  sworn 
falsely,  the  tongue  that  hath  taught  heresy.  All 
these  of  thine  own  household  shall  become  thy 
foes.     The  partners  and  instruments  of  thy  guilt 


LECTURE  III.  87 

shall  be  the  witnesses,  when  God  shall  reveal  the 
secrets  of  men  in  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is 
no  shadowy,  unreal,  realm  of  spirits,  no  mere 
flitting  dreams  of  a  dist«irbed  conscience,  that 
thou  shalt  then  await.  But  thou  shalt  see  the 
Judge  as  he  is;  in  substantial  verity  shalt  thou, 
the  same  man,  hear  the  words,  '  He  that  soweth 
to  the  flesh,  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption  :' 
a  sentence,  awful,  but  just:  we  may  not  gainsay  it. 
"  On  the  contrary,  if  penitent  and  humble,  and 
if  thou  hast  died  in  faith,  and  thy  sins  have  been 
blotted  out,  the  crimson  stain  having  been  cleansed 
away  in  the  fountain  open  for  sin  and  all  unclean- 
ness,  thou  shalt  recall,  when  thy  merciful  Judge 
addresses  thee  as  blessed,  thy  hands  uplifted  in 
prayer,  and  thy  feet  which  have  carried  thee  to 
the  house  of  God,  and  the  dwelling  of  the  mourner, 
the  eyes  that  have  wept  for  past  sins,  and  shed 
tears  of  compassion  over  the  sick  and  the  father- 
less, the  tongue  that  hath  sung  God's  praises,  and 
the  lips  that  have  declared  His  judgments.  Thou 
shalt  remember  that  the  cry  of  the  desolate  was 
not  rejected,  that  thou  hast  in  obedience  to  Christ 
and  in  love  for  Him  opened  thine  hand  freely  to 
help  and  befriend  Him,  in  succouring  the  poor 
and  needy  in  their  distress.  The  bodily  exercises 
which  profit  nothing,  if  done  with  vain  hopes  of 
their  being  in  themselves  pleasing  to  God,  may 
yet  be  remembered,  if  undertaken  to  subdue,  by  the 
aid  of  God's  holy  Spirit,  the  remnants  of  corrup- 
tion.    Thou  shalt  rejoice  in  all  those  things  which 


88^  LECTURE  III. 

thou  wast  counted  worthy  to  suffer  for  Christ's 
sake,  and  in  the  anticipation  of  experiencing  the 
fuhiess  of  His  love  shalt  realize  the  blessedness 
whicli  S.  Paul  could  tell  thee  of,  when  he  looked 
at  the  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of 
glory  which  awaited  him  after  his  sufferings  for 
Christ  in  life  present,  'bearing  about  in  his  body 
the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus.'  " 

There  is  nothing  inconsistent  in  thus  address- 
ing men,  while  we  hold  the  true  doctrine  of  per- 
sonal identity,  because  they  must  be  instructed 
as  they  are  able  to  bear  it.  There  is  a  certain 
moral  result  to  be  obtained,  the  empire  of  Christ 
is  to  be  promoted  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  the 
promises  and  revelations  of  the  Gospel  are  the 
means  thereunto,  to  be  used  as  the  weapons  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  spiritual  warfare  against  evil. 
These  must  be  so  used  as  to  produce  the  required 
effect.  And  in  urging  men  with  the  solemn 
warnings  which  the  Resurrection  of  the  Body  is 
capable  of  producing,  we  are  no  more  inconsistent 
in  telling  them  that  in  this  very  same  Body  they 
shall  live  again,  than  we  are  in  assuring  them 
that  they  are  the  same  men  who  years  ago  were 
dedicated  to  God  in  baptism  by  a  visible  outward 
sign.  The  seams  of  vice  in  the  haggard  and  guilty 
countenance  of  a  hardened  offender  will  last  for 
years  after  the  substance  of  the  body  has  changed ; 
the  brand  of  the  galley-slave  endures  to  his  dying 
hour;  it  is  the  same  body,  in  the  popular  and 
practical  sense  of  the  words.     So  in  speaking  of 


LECTURE  III.  89 

the  Day  of  Resurrection,  (while  he  admits  to  the 
subtle  objector  that  the  word  same  must  be  used 
in  a  peculiar  sense,  yet)  for  all  practical  and  useful 
purposes  the  Christian  must  adhere  to  the  words 
of  Scripture,  and,  wliile  he  professes  his  belief  in 
the  Resurrection  of  the  Dead,  must  have  a  defi- 
nite, clear,  and  unshaken  faith  in  this  great  mys- 
tery,— that  at  the  day  when  God  shall  be  pleased 
to  judge  the  sons  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ,  he  shall 
come  forth,  conscious  to  himself  that  he  is  the 
same  man,  and  then  must  a^ait  the  awful  decision 
on  which  his  eternal  fate  depends. 

The  sura  then  of  the  remarks  offered  in  this 
and  the  preceding  Lectures  will  be  as  follows  : 

There  have  been  left  in  man  in  his  fallen  state 
yearnings  for  immortality,  a  conviction  of  a  future 
life  of  some  kind,  and  of  retribution  for  conduct 
on  earth.  To  the  favoured  people  of  God  inti- 
mations were  given  of  something  more  definite,  of 
inheritance  of  divine  blessings,  which,  as  divine, 
could  not  be  finite ;  and  of  the  bringing  back  to 
life  those  M'ho  had  departed  ;  but  this  still  only 
dimly  led  to  the  idea  of  a  resurrection.  The  un- 
certainty, however,  is  made  clear  by  the  revela- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ.  We  are  herein  taught  the 
fact  of  a  new  creation,  the  regeneration  of  human 
nature;  that  the  sentence  of  mortality  is  abrogated, 
and  that  all  mankind  shall  rise  again  and  live  in 
the  body;  that  those  whom  God  owns  for  His  sons 
thereby  inherit  incorruption — sonship  of  God  in- 
volving that  idea,  from  the  beginning  of  the  ere- 


90  LECTURE  in. 

ation  to  the  end  of  the  world \  That  when  re- 
stored to  life  again,  all  the  mortal,  carnal  element 
in  the  Sons  of  God  will  have  disappeared,  and 
their  resurrection-body  will  be  spiritual  instead 
of  carnal,  an  help  meet  for  the  glorified,  sanctified, 
purified  spirit,  and  entirely  in  subjection  to  it 
instead  of  the  animal  soul.  That,  though  in  ma- 
terial particles  it  may  have  nothing  in  common 
with  the  former  body,  yet  undoubtedly  by  the 
restoration  of  the  faculties  to  a  jyerfect  state,  the 
risen  man  will  be  completely  conscious  of  his 
identity  with  his  former  self,  as  clearly  and  as 
distinctly  as  he  now  is  of  being  the  same  person 
during  his  existence  on  earth,  and  thus  will  attain 
to  that  which  he  looked  for  in  his  mortal  exist- 
ence,— the  redemption  of  the  Body. 

This  glorious  inheritance  is  within  the  reach 
of  all  of  us,  who  are  in  Christ's  new  covenant; 
w^e  should  strive  now  earnestly  to  become  fit  for 
it.  And  if  through  Faith  we  lay  hold  on  the 
Hope  set  before  us,  and  shew  this  by  our  Love 
to  God  and  the  brethren,  the  holy  Spirit  of  God 
will  in  due  time  exalt  us  to  the  place  whither  our 
Saviour  Christ  is  gone  before ;  and  redeemed,  we 
shall  in  the  bright,  happy,  and  glorious  train 
follow  our  triumphant  Master  into  the  Heaven 
of  heavens,  the  Holy  City  of  our  God. 

Unto  which  may  it  please  Him  of  his  infinite 
mercy  to  bring  us  all  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord. 

'  See  Archbishop  Tillotson,  Sermon  lxvi.  Vol.  i.  fol.  ed. 


LECTURE    IV, 


S.  JOHN  II.  18—22. 

Then  answered  the  Jews  and  said  unto  him^  What  sign 
shewest  thou  unto  us,  seeing  that  thou  doest  these  things  ? 
Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Destroy  this  temple, 
and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up.  Then  said  the 
Jews,  Forty  and  six  years  was  this  temple  in  building, 
and  wilt  thou  rear  it  up  in  three  days  ?  But  he  spake 
of  the  temple  of  his  body.  When  therefore  he  was  risen 
from  the  dead,  his  disciples  remembered  that  he  had  said 
this  unto  them ;  and  they  believed  the  scripture,  and  the 
word  which  Jesus  had  said. 

rpHE  argument  for  the  verity  of  the  Resurrec- 
-■-  tion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  been  so 
thoroughly  handled  that  it  can  hardly  need  repro- 
ducing at  the  present  day.  We  are  not  surprised, 
nevertheless,  that  in  the  current  infidel  literature 
all  the  old  objections  are  revived.  This  is  the 
usual  plan  on  which  the  opponents  of  Christianity 
proceed,  and  the  best  answer  to  them  is  to  bring 
out  of  the  treasury  the  armour  which  has  been 
stored  up,  and  reproduce  it  for  the  conflict.  Bishop 
Sherlock's  'Trial  of  the  Witnesses,'  and  subse- 
quent works  of  that  date,  which  take  up  the  ques- 
tion and  answer  the  cavils  of  dissatisfied  antago- 
nists,  are  still,   as  far  as  I    can  judge,  the  best 


92  LECTURE  IV. 

defence  of  the  orthodox  docirine;  and  to  these  we 
ought  to  refer  when  need  arises. 

But  though  the  main  facts  on  which  our  reli- 
gion depends,  are  as  clearly  proved,  as  in  the 
Dispensation  of  Faith  we  have  any  right  to 
expect,  there  may  often  remain  in  some  of  the 
particulars  which  surround  them,  points  which 
require  consideration,  because  they  involve  diffi- 
culties, which  therefore  are  laid  hold  of  by  the 
enemies  of  Christianity,  and  may  be  distorted  so 
as  to  cause  uneasiness  in  the  minds  of  some,  and 
disturb  their  convictions,  though  they  may  not 
prevail  to  overcome  them. 

I  propose  in  the  present  Lecture  to  consider, 
as  a  subject  suitable  to  the  season  to  which  these 
Lectures  have  been  assigned,  the  question  of  the 
prophecies  of  our  Lord's  resurrection  ;  and  in  so 
doing  to  follow  the  author  of  the  '  Life  of  Jesus'  on 
this  point,  and  endeavour  to  set  aside  the  prejudice 
he  creates  in  the  minds  of  his  readers  against 
the  truth  of  Christ's  resurrection,  by  attempts  to 
disprove  the  fact,  that  our  Lord  himself  uttered 
predictions  of  that  event. 

It  is  very  difficult,  in  one  sense,  to  grapple 
with  selected  portions  of  this  writer's  arguments ; 
because  there  is  hardly  any  common  ground  on 
which  to  rest :  his  theory  being  based  mainly  on 
this  idea — that  the  synoptical  writers,  or  the  first 
three  Evangelists,  as  well  as  S.  John  writing  long 
after  the  first  preaching  of  Christianity,  made 
their  narratives  according  to  the  prevalent  impres- 


LECTURE   IV.  93 

sioiis  of  tlieir  day  ;  the  first  giving  us  the  ordinary 
current  notions  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  so 
retailing  in  their  histories  legendary  tales  along 
with  some  historical  fragments;  and  the  latter 
putting  into  the  mouth  of  our  Lord  sayings  which 
accorded  with  the  form  which  the  doctrine  had 
taken  in  his  time,  or  supporting  his  private  views 
by  attributing  to  Christ's  own  words  meanings 
which  the  writer  himself  had  conceived,  or  the 
teachers  of  his  day  and  his  party  had  adopted. 

The  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  completely 
ignored ;  nothing  is  taken  as  true  because  it  is 
written  ;  our  books  which  we  regard  as  inspired 
are  treated  as  if  they  were  mere  pamphlets  tinged 
with  party  spirit ;  or  as  we  should  now  treat  some 
ephemeral  modern  account  of  any  remarkable 
events  of  fifty  years  back. 

No  doubt  the  way  to  repel  such  views,  and  suc- 
cessfully resist  such  a  system,  is  to  do  battle  to 
its  first  principles,  to  vindicate  to  the  Evangelists 
their  true  character,  to  re-establish  the  credibility 
of  their  histories,  on  the  solid  grounds  of  their 
genuineness  and  authenticity,  and  to  maintain  the 
certainty  of  their  testimony  on  the  truth  of  their 
inspiration,  and  their  special  guidance  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  in  recording  those  facts,  doctrines, 
and  precepts,  a  knowledge  of  which  is  essential 
to  the  well-being  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

But  how  few  of  those  into  whose  hands  are 
put  the  works  which  reflect  on  the  Faith  of  the 
Church  ever  have  the  antidote  !     How  many  there 


94  LECTURE  IV. 

are  who  take  up  casually  a  book  like  the  '  Life  of 
Jesus,'  and  see  the  specious  objections  which  are 
heaped  together  in  every  page,  and  made  to  tell 
in  the  mass  of  their  discordance  against  our  whole 
theological  system ;  and  how  many  of  these  carry 
away  with  them  the  bare  fact,  that  a  difficulty  has 
been  pointed  out,  for  which  they  have  no  ready 
solution  !  And  who  shall  say  whether  this  may 
not  be  a  plague-spot  of  the  conscience,  the  germ 
of  a  spirit  of  disaffection  to  the  Church,  the  com- 
mencement of  a  falling  away  from  the  faith  ? 

It  is  not  then  a  labour  of  small  importance  to 
endeavour  to  obviate  the  force  of  objections  urged 
against  particular  parts  of  the  history  detailed  in 
the  Gospels.  It  is  allowed,  that  the  real  contest 
with  the  school  of  mythical  interpreters  must  be 
carried  on  against  the  fundamental  ideas  of  their 
system,  but  it  is  also  presumed,  that  the  way  in 
which  they  bring  to  bear  in  their  favour  difficulties 
of  interpretation,  or  disagreements  of  annotators 
on  the  Scriptures,  may  be  shewn  to  be  unfair, 
and  sophistical,  with  advantage  to  those  (a  large 
class)  who  are  prone  to  take  up  particular  cases, 
and  who  are  troubled  in  their  minds  by  such 
distorted  and  exaggerated  representation  of  erro- 
neous conceptions,  by  ingenious  juxtapositions 
of  accounts  apparently  contradictory,  which  the 
subtle  foes  of  dogmatic  Christianity  pretend  to 
point  out  in  our  sacred  books. 

In  the  case  which  we  propose  to  consider,  the 
main   strength  of  the   objection  to   the   ordinary 


LECTURE  IV.  95 

idea  which  seems  to  be  patent  on  the  face  of  the 
history,  that  Christ  repeatedly  foretold  his  own 
Resurrection,  is  this :  that  the  Apostles  after  our 
Lord's  apprehension,  trial,  and  death,  seem  to 
have  had  no  expectation  whatever  of  such  an 
event.  '  Nothing,'  says  Strauss,  '  shews  the  least 
trace  of  their  remembrance  of  predictions  which 
had  announced  to  them  that  their  Master's  death 
should  be  followed  by  a  resurrection ;  nor  the 
least  spark  of  hope  of  seeing  such  predictions 
accomplished.' 

The  expectation  of  the  women  who  intended 
to  embalm  the  body,  their  amazement  at  finding 
the  tomb  empty,  the  reception  which  the  apostles 
gave  to  the  report  of  the  women,  which  they 
treated  as  idle  tales,  their  disbelief  in  the  account 
of  the  women  who  had  seen  Christ,  and  the  final 
doubts  of  some  when  many  had  become  con- 
vinced ;  all  these  facts  are  heaped  together  to 
shew  that  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  our  Lord 
foretold  his  resurrection,  and  therefore,  argues 
this  writer,  when  the  myth  of  the  Resurrection 
had  become  so  prevalent  as  to  command  general 
belief,  the  predictions  were  invented  by  the 
Gospel-writers,  and  inserted  in  the  narrative,  to 
support  the  prevalent  persuasion. 

The  direct  predictions  of  the  Resurrection 
being  thus  disposed  of,  he  next  attacks  tlie  in- 
direct or  typical  prophetic  assertions,  especially 
that  of  our  text,  to  shew  that  it  could  not  have 
the  meaning  which  S.  John  attaches  to  it.    Before 


96  LECTURE   IV. 

discussing  this,  we  may  consider  the  tirst  objec- 
tions to  the  record  of  Christ  having  foretold  his 
resurrection. 

Its  main  strength,  as  we  have  before  said,  lies 
in  the  acknowledged  fact,  of  the  want  of  faith  in 
the  Apostles  and  others,  after  our  Lord's  death  : 
if  then  we  can  shew  that  there  was  nothing  sur- 
prising in  this,  but  rather  the  contrary,  we  shall 
remove  the  chief  part  of  the  difficulty.  It  \vill 
not  be  necessary  to  argue  against  the  supposition 
of  the  spuriousness  of  the  predictions  attributed 
to  Christ,  because,  consenting  to  do  this  would 
be  surrendering  important  positions,  which  we 
have  said  must  be  maintained,  as  to  the  credi- 
bility of  the  whole  Gospel  History.  I  mean  that 
the  question  of  the  genuineness  or  spuriousness  of 
the  recorded  prophecies  is  not  to  be  decided  on 
narrow  grounds,  but  must  be  made  to  rest  on  the 
settlement  of  much  larger  questions,  the  Inspi- 
ration and  Authenticity  of  the  Gospels  ;  and  the 
integrity  of  the  narrative  must  be  preserved  from 
such  partial  criticisms.  While  then  we  keep  this 
in  mind,  we  may  with  advantage  argue  from  the 
internal  evidence  of  the  history  itself,  that  these 
unfavourable  conclusions  are  not  warranted,  and 
that  there  is  no  such  inconsistency  in  the  conduct 
of  the  Apostles  as  should  make  us  require  an 
extraordinary  adjustment  of  the  facts  of  the  case. 
For  this  object  we  may  notice  : — 

First:  that  the  Apostles  being  unlearned  men, 
were  not  probably   acquainted  with  the  doctrine 


LECTURE  IV.  97" 

of  the  Resurrection,  about  which  the  principal 
religious  schools  in  Judaea  debated  and  argued  : 
and  so  the  Resurrection  of  the  Dead  was  a  strange 
idea  to  them.  We  are  not  left  in  doubt  in  this 
matter,  for  on  one  occasion,  when  our  Lord  spake 
of  His  Resurrection,  they  understood  not  the 
saying,  as  S.  Mark  tells  us,  (ix.  32),  and  also  that 
the  saying  was  hid  from  them,  neither  knew  they- 
the  things  which  were  spoken  (S.  Luke  xviii.  34), 
and  that  they  questioned  with  one  another  what 
the  Resurrection  of  the  Dead  should  mean,  (S. 
Mark  ix.  10).  They  were,  indeed,  hereafter  to 
see  instances  of  persons  raised  from  the  dead  by 
our  Lord';  but  in  these  cases  they  had  before 
their  eyes  the  prophet  in  whom  they  trusted  ex- 
ercising miraculous  power ;  and  when  he  was 
himself  apprehended,  condemned,  and  put  to 
death,  and  their  faith  in  Him  was  shaken,  who 
was  then  to  call  him  back  to  life?  With  His 
death  came  the  destruction  of  all  their  hopes,  and 

^  Such  instances  were  however  of  a  very  different  kind  to  what 
we  conceive  involved  in  the  idea  of  '  the  Resurrection  of  the  Dead,' 
speaking  generally;  as  those  persons  raised  from  the  dead  were,  as 
far  as  we  can  learn,  not  exempted  from  ultimate  mortality.  It  makes 
their  resurrection  not  differ  very  much  from  the  healing  of  disease. 
Some  persons  have  made  needless  enquiries  about  the  fact,  whether 
persons  raised  from  the  dead  by  our  Lord  were  again  to  die.  S. 
Avgustine  may  answer  the  enquiry  thus,  Enarratio  in  Ps.  cxxvr. 
V.  7  :  '  Unus  resurrexit  jam  non  moriturus.  Resurrexit  Lazarus,  sed 
moriturus;  resurrexit  Filia  archisynagogi,  sed  moritura;  resurrexit 
filia  viduce,  sed  moriturus ;  resurrexit  Christus,  non  moriturus.'  In 
Ps.  cxxii.  4 :  '  Multi  enim  ante  ilium  mortui  sunt,  sed  nemo  ante 
ilium  resurrexit  in  aeternum.'  Li  Ps.  cxxix.  9:  'Nemo  resurrexerat 
nunquam  moriturus,  nisi  Dominus.* 

H.  L.  G 


98  LECTURE  IV. 

there  was  none  to  whom  they  could  then  look  for 
support,  encouragement,  or  assistance.  A  resur- 
rection from  the  dead  of  any  one,  without  a  divine 
messenger  to  exert  power  over  him,  was  a  strange 
idea  to  them.  We  have  indeed  reason  to  suj^pose 
that  among  the  more  educated  of  the  Jewish 
people  the  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  was  gene- 
rally received,  and  though  rejected  by  some,  yet 
understood  by  them  ;  but  still  it  does  not  seem 
improbable  that  the  words  quoted  from  S.  Mark's 
Gospel  are  to  be  taken  in  their  plain  literal 
meaning,  and  that  the  poor  fishermen  from  the 
coasts  of  the  sea  of  Galilee  did  not  yet  under- 
stand what  was  meant  by  the  Resurrection  of  the 
Dead'. 

But  suppose  it  could  be  shewn  that  the  idea 
of  a  resurrection  of  the  dead  were  more  univer- 
sally prevalent  than  such  a  supposition  would 
assume ;  we  may,  in  the  second  place,  argue  that 
the  Apostles  may  only  have  looked  for  some  re- 

^  There  was  a  gradual  progress  in  the  clearness  of  the  prophecies 
of  the  resurrection,  as  the  disciples  were  able  to  bear  it,  and  gained, 
or  might  have  gained,  in  knowledge  of  Christ's  kingdom.  Thus  we 
have  the  emblematic  prophecy  in  S.  John,  2d  chapter,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  our  Lord's  ministry,  on  his  first  journey  to  Jerusalem. 
After  he  returned  into  Galilee,  we  have  the  sign  of  Jonas,  S.  Matt. 
xii.  38,  S.  Luke  xi.  29;  repeated  again  at  another  time,  see  S,  Matt. 
xvi.  4.  Subsequently  to  those  he  began  to  instruct  the  disciples 
more  clearly,  S.  Matt,  xvi,  21,  S.  Mark  viii.  31,  S.  Luke  ix.  2L 
Again,  S.  INLatt.  xvii.  9,  S.  Mark  ix.  10;  then  S,  Mark,  ix.  30,  and 
parallel  passages ;  and  on  his  journey  to  Jerusalem  for  the  last  time, 
S.  Matt.  XX.  17,  S.  Mark  x.  32,  S.  Luke  xviii.  31 ;  and  in  his  last 
discourses,  S.  John  xiv.  18 — 28;  xvi.  16 — 20,  and  just  before  his 
passion,  S.  Matt.  xxvi.  32. 


LECTURE  IV.  99 

storation  of  the  doctrine,  and  following  of  Christ, 
at  so7ne  future  time,  and  not  have  understood  that 
'the  third  day'  was  to  be  taken  literally.  Now 
with  candour  which  commands  respect  and  con- 
fidence in  their  veracity,  the  Evangelist  tells  us  of 
the  slowness  of  comprehension  of  the  immediate 
hearers  of  Christ,  and  how  after  his  resurrection 
things  which  he  had  told  them  received  as  it 
were  new  light,  and  were  understood  by  them  in 
their  real  intent,  whereas  before  they  could  not 
comprehend  them.  So  we  are  told  in  the  text, 
'  When  he  was  risen  from  the  dead  the  disciples 
remembered  that  he  had  said  this  unto  them.' 
And  the  angel,  who  told  those  who  came  early  to 
the  sepulchre  about  the  prophecy  of  the  resur- 
rection, speaks  thus  :  '  He  is  not  here,  but  is  risen: 
remember  how  he  spake  unto  you,  when  he  was 
yet  in  Galilee,  saying,  The  Son  of  man  must  be 
delivered  into  the  hands  of  sinful  men,  and  be 
crucified,  and  the  third  day  he  must  rise  again. 
And  thcTj  remembered  his  ivoi^ds.'  All  this  makes 
us  inclined  to  believe  that  the  disciples  could  not 
have  understood  our  Lord  in  any  literal  sense, 
even  when  he  spake  openly,  {rrapprjaia,  S.  Mark 
viii.  32) ;  for  S.  Peter's  attempt  to  rebuke  our 
Lord  for  applying  to  himself  the  words  foretelling 
his  passion,  shews  us  what  temper  they  were  of, 
and  what  aversion  they  had  to  entertain  thoughts 
of  his  actual  passion.  Therefore  it  will  not  be  a 
groundless  conjecture  if  we  suppose  that  on  other 
occasions   of   His    forewarning    them,   and   com- 

G2 


100  LECTURE  IV. 

forting  thera  with  assurances  of  his  return  to  life 
and  re-appearance  among  them,  they  might  con- 
clude that  he  only  intended  the  restoration,  in 
some  way  or  other,  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
after  a  temporary  obscurity. 

This  applies  to  the  time  between  his  death 
and  resurrection  still  more  strongly;  for  in  the 
third  place  their  minds  were  pre-occupied  Mith 
an  erroneous  idea  of  a  temporal  kingdom,  which 
would  disincline  them  even  to  entertain  for  a 
short  time  the  notion  of  the  Messiah  being  really 
and  actually  one  who  had  suffered  death ;  and 
when  their  hopes  were  utterly  gone,  and  they 
considered  that  they  had  been  indulging  in  a 
dream  which  was  not  to  be  satisfied,  *  we  trusted 
that  it  had  been  He  which  should  have  redeemed 
Israel'  (understanding  literally  the  prophecy  of 
Zacharias),  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised  that  they 
should  have  ceased  to  remember  His  promise  of 
a  Resurrection.  When  He  had,  as  they  thought, 
so  bitterly  disappointed  them,  his  mention  of  a 
temporary  absence,  even  if  they  recollected  it, 
must  have  seemed  to  them  almost  a  mockery, 
when  contrasted  with  their  frustrated  expectations. 
Their  views  generally  before  the  outpouring  of 
the  Spirit  were  carnal ;  up  to  the  very  time  of  the 
Ascension,  the  same  impression  prevailed  that 
they  were  to  be  set  up  over  Israel,  (Acts  i.  16). 
How  unlikely  then  that  just  after  the  shock  of 
our  Lord's  death,  as  a  leader  of  sedition  among 
the  peoj)le,  and  the  premature  and  abrupt  close 


LECTURE  IV.  TOl 

of  His  career,  (as  they  then  fancied,) — having  for- 
saken him,  and  fled  from  him,  and  hiding  in 
secret  places  for  fear  of  the  Jews — how  unlikely 
that  they  should  remember  his  prophecy  of 
coming  to  life  again  so  as  to  anticipate  any  posi- 
tive actual  fulfilment  of  it. 

Fourthly  :  Strauss  thinks  it  incredible  that  the 
disciples  should  disbelieve,  and  the  chief  priests 
and  Pharisees  be  sufficiently  alive  to  the  report 
to  act  upon  it^.  But  let  us  consider  the  difference 
in  position  of  the  two  parties.  The  disciples  dis- 
mayed and  confounded  at  the  sudden  discomfiture 
of  all  their  anticipations,  their  worst  fears  verified, 
themselves  suspected  of  being  privy  to  seditious 
intentions,  and  their  Leader  and  Master  taken 
prisoner  and  destroyed.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
priests  and  Pharisees  considering  that  they  had 
crushed  a  dangerous  rebellion  against  their  reli- 
gion and  polity,  and  anxious  to  take  every  means 
to  secure  their  advantage  ;  many  of  them  (as  we 
cannot  but  suppose)  acting  on  imperfect  informa- 
tion and  exaggerated  accounts,  honestly  thinking 
that  the  new  sect  was  like  others  which  they  had 
witnessed,  a  plot  or  contrivance  of  cunning  rest- 
less men  to  overthrow  the  government  and  change 
the  laws  ;  and  conceiving  that  their  security  de- 
pended on  the  friendly  disposition  of  the  Roman 
power,  they   would  be  anxious   to  assist   in   re- 

^  The  doubts  that  have  been  thrown  on  the  genuineness  of  this 
narration  are  answered  in  Michaelis  ErkUirung  der  Begr'dhniss  und 
Aufergtehungs  gefcMchfe  Chrisfi,  p.  84,  et  seq. 


102  LECTURE  IV. 

moving  all  appearance  of  disaffection  to  the  ruling 
authority.  Such  men,  when  any  rumour  was 
brought  of  an  intended  prolongation  of  the  sedi- 
tious movement,  knowing  how  easily  the  people 
were  deceived,  would  not  unnaturally  take  pre- 
cautions. While  the  disciples,  from  the  blasting 
of  their  hopes,  and  the  prevalence  of  fear,  would 
despondingly  look  for  nothing  but  evil  conse- 
quences to  themselves ;  the  others,  exulting  in 
their  success,  would  strive  carefully  to  prevent 
any,  even  the  most  improbable  contrivances,  from 
having  any  effect  in  reviving  the  dangerous  fac- 
tion which  they  had  apparently  destroyed. 

From  these  considerations,  arising  out  of  the 
narrative  as  it  comes  to  us,  and  assuming  nothing 
more  than  the  honesty  of  the  writers,  it  seems  to 
me  that  there  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the  un- 
belief of  the  Apostles,  and  the  fact  that  the  pro- 
mise of  resurrection  did  not  seem  to  give  them 
any  comfort  in  their  distress. 

And  besides.  Me  may  further  notice  that  it  is 
a  great  exaggeration  to  say  that  they  were  inve- 
terately  disinclined  to  believe  the  news  of  the 
resurrection.  S.  Peter  and  S.  John  ran  to  the 
sepulchre  as  soon  as  they  heard  of  it.  The  sur- 
prise and  astonishment  which  they  must  have 
felt,  and  the  rush  of  feelings  of  difierent  kinds 
which  must  have  filled  their  agitated  hearts  at 
this  sudden  little  expected  event,  the  strong  re- 
vulsion from  despondency  to  a  wonderful  expec- 
tation of  still  greater  things  to  follow,  beyond  all 


LECTURE  IV.  105 

that  they  had  so  lately  ventured  to  think  :  all 
this  is  indicated  in  the  Evangelical  accounts. 
*  They  believed  not  for  joy.'  'The  women  de- 
parted quickly  from  the  sepulchre,  with  fear  and 
great  joy.'  *  They  trembled  and  were  amazed, 
neither  said  they  anything  to  any  man,  for  they 
were  afraid.'  This  fear  and  trembling,  joy  and 
amazement,  with  hopes  of  a  new  and  strange  kind 
in  their  bosoms,  must  have  naturally  made  the 
Apostles,  and  those  who  came  first  to  the  sepul- 
chre, move  to  and  fro  anxiously,  and  converse 
somewhat  incoherently  ;  and  if  we  estimate  the 
effect  of  these  various  tumultuous  feelings,  we 
find  rather  a  congruity  and  consistency  in  the 
variations  of  the  accounts  of  their  conduct^. 

Besides,  if  the  Apostles  had  been  too  ready  to 
receive  the  report  of  Christ's  resurrection,  it 
would  have  been  used  as  an  argument  to  shew 
that  their  expectations  deceived  them  ;  and  that 
in  their  eagerness  to  receive  intelligence  of  the 
actual  fact  of  their  Master  having  risen  again, 
they  were  credulous,  and  on  that  account  not 
trustworthy  witnesses^. 

With  every  endeavour  to  appreciate  the  diffi- 
culty which  persons  have  found  in  the  conduct  of 
the  Apostles  between  the  Lord's  apprehension  and 
resurrection,  and  the  discrepancy  which  they 
fancy  they   discern   between    that    conduct   and 

1  '  Quod  credunt  tardius,  non  est  perfidise  sed  anxoris.' — S.  Ckrt/- 
sostom.  Serm.  81.    {Dr  Barrow.) 

2  Lampe  in  Blomf.  Syn.  Tom.  in.  p.  63. 


104  LECTURE   IV. 

what  is  expected  from  them,  I  have  not  been  able 
to  see  anything  approaching  to  inconsistency  : 
nothing  in  their  hesitation  and  doubt  but  what 
might  have  been  expected ;  and  the  narrative 
rather  commends  itself  to  me  by  its  artless  honest 
character  in  this  respect,  as  the  plain,  true,  ge- 
nuine narrative  of  men  who  were  real  actors  in 
the  scenes  which  they  describe. 

To  pass  on  to  the  text:  the  objection  to  the 
assertion  of  the  Evangelist  that  this  figurative 
saying  referred  to  the  body  of  Christ  and  to  his 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  is  urged  thus  :  The 
scandal  caused  by  the  profanation  of  the  temple 
by  the  buyers  and  sellers  having  provoked  our 
Lord  to  an  act  of  holy  zeal,  the  Jews  demanded 
a  sign  which  should  prove  his  mission  from  God, 
and  so  justify  the  authority  which  he  assumed  ; 
His  answer  is,  'Destroy  this  temple,  and  I  will 
raise  it  in  three  days.'  The  Jews  understood  this 
of  the  temple  in  which  they  were  standing,  but 
our  Lord,  it  is  said,  meant  the  Temple  of  His 
Body.  Did  our  Lord  then  intend  to  give  them  a 
sign  really,  or  not  ?  It  is  assumed  that  as  he  gave 
them  this  answer  to  their  question,  he  intended 
that  it  should  be  an  answer,  and  yet  it  was  one 
which  in  its  real  sense,  as  we  are  assured  by  S. 
John,  they  could  not  generally  understand.  In 
reply  to  this  question,  we  may  observe  that  this 
is  not  the  only  occasion  on  which  they  came  to 
Him  w  ith  a  request  for  a  sign.  Thus  in  the  sixth 
chapter  of  8.  John   they  said  unto  him,   '  What 


LECTURE  IV.  105 

sign  shewest  thou  that  we  may  see,  and  believe 
thee?  What  dost  thou  work?'  And  they  then 
urge  the  fact  that  Moses  had  clearly  shewn  his 
heaven-sent  authority  by  giving  them  a  sign. 
'  Our  fathers  did  eat  manna  in  the  desert,  as  it  is 
written,  He  gave  them  bread  from  heaven  to  eat.' 
This  demand  of  a  sign  on  another  occasion  is 
treated  by  Christ  as  the  offspring  of  curiosity,  or 
an  ill-disposed  mind :  '  An  evil  and  adulterous 
generation  seeketh  after  a  sign;  and  there  shall 
no  sign  be  given  to  it,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet 
Jonas,'  repeated  twice  in  S.  Matthew's  Gospel. 
S.  Mark  tells  us  the  Pharisees  came  forth  and 
began  to  question  with  him,  seeking  of  him  a 
sign  from  heaven,  tempting  him.  'And  he  sighed 
deeply  in  spirit,  and  saith,  Why  doth  this  gene- 
ration seek  after  a  sign?  Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
that  there  shall  be  no  sign  given  unto  this  gene- 
ration ;'  or,  as  S.  Luke  reports  it,  '  There  shall  no 
sign  be  given,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas.' 

Now  from  this  we  may  conclude  that  the  sign 
was  not  meant  to  be  intelligible  to  the  generality 
of  the  audience;  the  natural  character  of  the 
Gospel  was  opposed  to  this  carnal  demand  for 
testing  all  things  by  actual  sight,  for  this  reason, 
that  those  who  required  it  were  not  inclined  to 
obey,  not  disposed  towards  eternal  life ;  they 
were  not  in  that  state  of  mind  in  which  they  were 
accessible  to  the  soft  pleadings  of  the  Spirit  of 
God.  S.  Paul  compares  this  tendency  to  require 
signs  and  wonders  before  faith,  with  the  seeking 


106  LECTURE   IV. 

of  the  Greeks  after  wisdom,  (1  Cor.  i.  16,)  and  he 
proclaims  the  Gospel  of  Christ  crucified  as  being 
exactly  the  opposite  to  these  things,  a  stumbling- 
block  instead  of  a  sign  to  the  Jews,  and  foolish- 
ness instead  of  wisdom  to  the  Greeks. 

Inasmuch  as  they  would  not  come  to  Him  that 
they  might  have  life,  our  Lord  preached  to  them 
in  parables  for  a  testimony,  and  taught  them  by 
signs  not  immediately  to  be  apprehended,  but 
such,  that  when  the  event  signified  had  come  to 
pass,  they  might  prove  to  them  that  there  had 
been  a  prophet  among  them.     (Ezek.  xxxiii.  33.) 

The  Evangelist  tells  us  that  he  spake  of  the 
Temple  of  His  Body.  The  Jews  understood  Him 
of  the  Temple  in  which  they  stood;  and  in  answer 
to  the  question  whether  our  Lord  intended  that 
they  should  thus  understand  him,  we  must  reply, 
that  He  knew  they  would  so  apply  His  words, 
and  therefore  must  have  so  intended.  For  in  a 
figurative  sense  it  was  undoubtedly  true  that  the 
destruction  of  the  Temple  should  make  way  for 
the  new  spiritual  Temple  into  which  all  God's 
children  should  be  gathered ;  the  passing  away 
of  the  Jewish  polity  was  to  be  succeeded  by  the 
fulness  and  universality  of  the  Christian  Church  ; 
and  though  he  meant  chiefiy  and  primarily  His 
own  Body  as  the  Temple,  yet  there  was  a  sense 
in  which  the  words  as  understood  by  the  Jews 
would  be  a  sign  of  the  Divine  appointment  of 
Christ  to  regenerate  the  world ;  a  sense  which 
after   generations   might  receive,   and  which    we 


LECTURE  IV.  107 

can  now  fully  understand,  although  at  the  time 
it  was  obscure  and  enigmatical.  But  we  may  also 
urge  that  it  was  possible  for  the  Jews  to  have 
had  perception  of  Christ's  real  meaning,  for  the 
word  temple  (vao^)  as  applied  to  the  body,  was  not 
necessarily  and  altogether  a  strange  idea  to  them. 
And  there  may  have  been  some  among  his  hearers 
not  unfamiliar  with  the  application  of  the  word 
in  this  sense.  The  Hebrew  word  which  signifies 
a  dwelling  (ii)  is  used  for  a  man's  body  in  the 
song  of  Hezekiah  (Isai.  xxxviii.  12.)  The  words 
translated  7niue  age  is  departed,  are  understood  by 
Vitringa  as  meaning  *  my  body  was  wasted  away,' 
and  he  supports  his  opinion  by  that  of  Jewish  in- 
terpreters of  the  Sacred  Text.  The  words  bn'a, 
and  aKtjvos,  a  tent,  to  denote  the  body,  are  not  of 
unfrequent  occurrence.  And  besides,  Philo  uses 
the  words  vaos  and  lepou,  in  speaking  of  the  human 
body,  to  express  the  dignity  of  the  indwelling  soul'; 
so  that  when  S.  Paul  has  these  expressions, 
speaking  of  the  same  human  body,  and  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  and  calls  them  temples  of  God 
through  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we 
may  conclude  that  he  was  making  use  of  phrase- 

1  De  Opijlcio  Mundi,  pp.  93,  94,  ed.  Pfeiff.  de  corpore  primi 

hominis  oiKO<:  -yap  Ti?  i]  veto's  i€po<:  eTenTaivero  \|/i;^»7?  Aoyi/c^?.  See 
also  Origenes  contra  Celsum,  viii.  pp.  389 — 391.  ed.  Spencer. 

Philo  imitated  P/rtto,  who  said  that  the  d'ya.KfxaTaQeiau  were  shut 
up  in  the  bodies  of  men  endowed  with  great  talents  and  virtues, 
Sympos.  c.  32;  and  the  Greek  fathers  adopted  this  and  imitated  it  in 
aftertimes.  Clemens  Alex.  Strom,  vii.  c  5 ;  Eusehius  adv.  Hiero- 
clem,  c.  6. 


108  LECTURE  IV. 

ology  not  unknown  to  writers  and  readers  of  Iiis 
day :  and  we  know  that  in  other  subjects  it  has 
been  conjectured,  not  without  good  reason,  that 
he  referred  to  the  doctrines  and  used  the  language 
of  the  Alexandrian  Jews. 

That  such  intelligence  of  Christ's  words  on  the 
part  of  those  about  him  was  very  limited,  we 
must  indeed  conclude ;  and  the  fact  that  the  ge- 
neral idea  attached  to  them  was  of  an  indefinite 
kind,  may  be  gathered  from  the  use  made  of  the 
words  afterwards.  They  would  appear  to  have 
made  a  very  deep  impression  upon  the  Jews:  for 
we  find  them  quoted  by  the  false  witnesses  at 
Christ's  trial,  and  used  in  insulting  mockery  by 
the  scribes,  when  our  Lord  was  hanging  on  the 
cross. 

The  false  witnesses  seem  to  have  misrepre- 
sented what  was  said,  for  they  do  not  use  the 
words  reported  by  S.  John.  They  give  their 
testimony  in  a  May  which  would  make  us  sup- 
pose that  a  figurative  sense  ivcls  partially  under- 
stood. Their  words  are  thus  reported  in  S.  Mark's 
Gospel  :  '  We  heard  him  say,  I  will  destroy  this 
temple  that  is  made  with  hands,  and  within  three 
days  I  will  build  another  made  without  hands.' 

If  in  the  transmission  of  the  saying  such  an 
addition  had  been  made  as  ayeipoTvon^Tov,  it  seems 
probable  that  it  may  have  arisen  from  sucli  par- 
tial understanding  of  a  figurative  sense  in  the 
words.  The  spiritual  character  of  the  second 
temple  seems  to  be  hinted   at;  and  later  still,  in 


LECTURE  IV.  10$ 

the  depositions  against  S.  Stephen,  we  have  it 
atfirmed  of  him  that  he  had  said,  'Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth shall  destroy  this  place,  and  change  the  cus- 
toms which  Moses  delivered  us.'  Does  not  this 
intimate  that  Christ's  words  had  been  construed 
to  mean  the  abolition  of  the  law,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  Gospel  ? 
There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  most  persons 
considered  them  as  conveying  a  boast  on  our 
Lord's  part,  which  was  a  subject  of  ridicule  rather 
than  of  solemn  refutation.  And  it  is  either  in 
this  sense,  or  because  it  had  an  appearance  of 
treating  lightly  what  the  Jews  so  much  valued, 
that  it  was  turned  into  a  taunt  by  the  passers  by 
at  the  crucifixion :  '  Thou  that  destroyest  the 
temple,  and  buildest  it  in  three  days,  save  thyself, 
and  come  down  from  the  cross.' 

Now  while  any  among  the  hearers  understood 
literally,  it  is  incredible,  as  some  have  supposed, 
that  he  should  have  indicated  His  own  body  by 
outward  sign ;  for  then  neither  the  disciples  nor 
the  Pharisees  could  have  been  ignorant  that  he 
spake  of  the  Temple  of  His  Body ;  and  we  are 
told  they  really  were  so,  till  after  he  was  risen 
from  the  dead. 

We  must  then  conclude  that  our  Lord  spoke 
in  a  manner  that  conveyed  but  a  distant  meaning; 
and  that  it  was  like  others  of  his  sayings  l  'These 
things  have  I  told  you  before  it  come  to  pass, 
that  when  it  is  come  to  pass,  ye  may  believe  that 
I  am  He.'    And  in  this  sense  it  agrees   entirely 


110  LECTURE  IV. 

with  what  has  been  said  of  the  way  in  which  our 
Lord  treated  the  demand  for  a  sign  on  other  occa- 
sions. It  is  quite  clear,  from  the  general  tone  of 
Christ's  teaching,  that  the  scribes  and  Pharisees 
were  not  of  that  disposition  to  which  the  Gospel 
is  adapted  in  men.  The  demand  for  signs  and 
wonders,  if  complied  with,  would  not  have  had 
any  effect.  If  they  did  not  believe  '  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  neither  would  they  be  persuaded 
though  one  rose  from  the  dead.'  In  fact,  we  may 
at  once  assume  that  the  signs  if  given  would  not 
have  wrought  conviction;  for  if  they  would  have 
so  done,  we  have  a  moral  certainty  that  Christ 
would  have  given  them.  Can  we  believe  that 
Herod,  who  hoped  to  have  seen  some  miracle 
done  by  Christ,  would  have  become  His  disciple, 
if  our  Lord  had  complied  with  this  idle  and  im- 
pertinent curiosity  ?  And  since  He  knew  all 
things,  and  needed  not  that  any  should  testify  of 
man,  because  He  knew  what  was  in  man,  and 
therefore  full  well  could  see  the  motives,  and  know 
the  tendencies  of  His  hearers,  can  we  suppose 
it  at  all  likely  that  the  Divine  power  which  He 
possessed  would  be  uselessly  paraded  before  them, 
leading  to  no  result  but  the  hardening  of  their 
hearts  ?  Yet  while  the  questioners  were  by  their 
want  of  honest  anxiety  and  genuine  desire  to 
know  the  truth,  excluded  from  obtaining  an  an- 
swer, our  Lord  must  have  remembered  that  there 
were  some  wondering,  trembling,  anxious  followers 
of  His  also  standing  by,  who  might  have  watched 


LECTURE  IV.  Ill 

for  his  answer  with  sincere  desire  to  get  convic- 
tion of  the  Truth,:  and  for  these  He  gave  an  an- 
swer to  the  question,  a  sign  which  as  yet  they 
should  not  understand,  but  one  which,  when  the 
time  should  come,  they  should  remember  He  had 
told  them,  and  thus  should  be  produced  the  con- 
viction which  they  were  ready  to  embrace  and 
act  upon. 

Considered  in  this  light  there  is  nothing  un- 
reasonable or  improbable  in  the  account  which  S. 
John  gives  of  the  answer  of  our  Lord  to  his  ob- 
jectors. It  is  entirely  in  agreement  with  the  man- 
ner of  his  ordinary  teaching  of  those  who  were 
not  inquirers  after  truth;  it  forms  a  harmonious 
part  of  that  system ;  and  in  considering  it  we 
have  also  assigned  reasons  for  obviating  similar 
objections  to  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas,  which 
is  very  similar  in  some  respects  to  that  we  have 
been  discussing. 

So  that,  on  the  whole,  we  have  been  unable  to 
discern  any  reason  for  doubting  about  the  fact 
that  our  blessed  Lord  before  His  passion  repeat- 
edly foretold  his  Resurrection,  either  from  the 
conduct  of  the  Apostles  after  His  death,  or  from 
the  obscurity  or  apparent  indirectness  of  the  figures 
under  which  it  was  signified ;  and  we  are  there- 
fore not  at  all  prepared  to  surrender  any  ground 
of  faith  in  the  Divine  Mission  of  Christ  by  ^allowing 
of  inconsistency  in  the  evangelical  accounts  be- 
tween the  fact   of  predictions   and  the  slowness 


112  LECTURE  lY. 

and  despondency  of  Christ's  followers  in  believing 
the  Resurrection. 

Indeed,  to  argue  the  question  on  such  low- 
grounds  is  rather  an  effort  for  a  Christian.  He 
feels  that  his  faith  in  the  divinely-inspired  Scrip- 
tures as  the  Oracles  of  God,  a  faith  first  of  all  de- 
termined by  external  evidence,  prevents  him  from 
undertaking  with  patience  the  examination  of  the 
credibility  of  particular  facts  recorded  therein. 
We  are  doing  violence  to  our  respect  for  the 
sacred  writers  when  we  canvass  their  writings 
with  such  pitiful  suspicion.  And  though  we  are 
obliged  to  meet  cavils  wherever  they  are  started, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  painful  duties  of  an  advocate 
for  Revelation  that  he  has  occasionally  to  suspend 
or  lay  aside  the  conviction  he  has  of  the  Bible 
being  the  true  and  living  Word  of  the  Divine 
Ruler  of  the  '  iverse,  in  order  to  meet  objections, 
and  canvass  dirf^culties,  with  those  who  are  other- 
wise minded. 

Thus  in  the  case  we  have  been  considering, 
when  he  knows  that  the  Resurrection  of  Christ  is 
the  corner-stone  of  the  Gospel,  and  that  the  hesi- 
tations and  doubts  which  men  have  invented  for 
themselves,  and  pretended  to  find  in  the  sacred 
narrative,  have  really  for  their  end  to  throw  dis- 
credit on  that  great  and  fundamental  doctrine,  he 
can  hardly  with  patience  stay  to  unravel  the  small 
meshes  of  the  net  which  is  being  thrown  over  the 
faith  of  Christendom.     He  longs  to  get  free  from 


LECTURE  IV.  113 

such  miserable  cavils,  and  urge  the  arguments 
which  are  weapons  of  attack  rather  than  of  de- 
fence. 

See  the  wisdom  with  which  Christ's  chosen 
followers  were  taken  from  a  class  whose  limited 
knowledge  and  constant  prejudices  were  in  all 
respects  obstacles  rather  than  favourable  to  am- 
bitious schemes.  See  their  weaknesses  recorded, 
and  their  slowness  of  apprehension  ;  how  they  con- 
stantly misunderstood  their  Master,  how  they 
abandoned  Him  in  His  hour  of  peril,  how  they 
clung  as  long  as  they  could  to  unworthy  carnal 
views  of  power,  opposed  entirely  to  what  he  wished 
to  impress  on  them,  how  they  hesitated,  and 
wondered,  and  doubted,  when  glimpses  of  the  truth 
of  His  Resurrection  were  made  known  to  them, 
how  completely  they  were  of  themselves  inca- 
pable of  inventing  and  carrying  out  any  impos- 
ture ;  and  then  see  if  the  whole  work  be  not  evi- 
dently of  God.  See  if  there  be  any  way  of  account- 
ing for  the  first  spread  of  Christianity,  unless 
these  men  were  endowed  with  special  power  from 
the  Creator  of  men,  and  Ruler  of  the  universe. 

Their  simple  story  was,  that  Christ  Jesus,  whom 
the  Jews  had  slain,  was  risen  from  the  dead,  and 
had  invested  them  with  powers  of  the  most  ex- 
traordinary kind,  to  effect  the  conversion  of  all 
nations  to  his  religion.  And  they  succeeded,  in  the 
midst  of  hostile  races,  hostile  governments,  and 
hostile  neighbours.  Jews,  heathen,  Roman  powers, 
priests,  social   institutions,  systems  of  policy,   of 

H.L.  H 


114  LECTURE  IV. 

philosophy,  of  religion,  were  all  against  them, 
were  all  rudely  shocked  by  their  attacks  and 
their  new  doctrines ;  nothing  was  in  their  favour 
but  truth,  Divine  truth,  backed  by  Heaven-sent 
testimony.  And  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  in  spite 
of  threats  and  punishment,  in  spite  of  persecutions 
and  dispersion,  in  spite  of  Jewish  hatred,  and 
Roman  violence,  and  Grecian  contempt,  they  suc- 
ceeded. They  succeeded  in  convincing  thousands 
that  the  story  they  had  to  tell,  the  message  they 
had  to  deliver,  were  true.  And  all  was  based 
upon  the  Resurrection  of  Christ.  They  them- 
selves told  their  hearers,  '  If  Christ  be  not  risen, 
our  faith  is  vain.'  All  depended  upon  this.  Were 
they  not  then  themselves  convinced  of  its  truth? 
Were  not  their  accounts  of  it  to  be  credited? 

And  if  the  narrative  in  its  honesty  reveal  to 
us  what  we  now  call,  aj'te?'  the  event,  their  marvel- 
lous unbelief  in  the  predictions  of  our  Lord,  this 
very  fact  becomes  a  testimony  to  their  sincerity 
and  singleness  of  purpose.  It  shews  us  that  they 
arc  honest  and  true  men,  to  record  their  own  de- 
ficiencies. It  is  a  proof  of  their  trustworthiness. 
Would  not  a  different  record  have  provoked  the 
opposite  objections  ?  If  they  had  believed  all 
our  Lord  foretold  them,  and  been  anxious  to  find 
the  Resurrection  a  fact,  would  not  this  have  called 
forth  from  enemies  expressions  of  doubt  with 
respect  to  a  circumstance  which  those  who  re- 
ported it  were  so  much  interested  in  finding  to 
be  true  ? 


LECTURE  IV.  115 

But,  as  it  is,  the  Divinely-inspired  histories 
seem  to  give  us  evidence  of  their  origin  from  their 
exact  accordance  with  the  wants  we  should  feel, 
in  examining  into  the  foundations  of  our  faith  ;  and 
the  very  circumstance, — that  in  spite  of  predictions 
of  His  Resurrection,  the  Apostles  were  slow  to 
expect  it, — and  yet  that  they  recorded  this, — and 
then  spent  their  lives,  their  energies,  their  blood, 
in  testifying  to  mankind — how  true  He  was  whom 
they  had  doubted,  and  in  whose  words  they  had 
not  sufficiently  confided, — how  entirely  they  trusted 
in  Him  whom  they  had  abandoned  to  His  enemies 
in  the  hour  of  peril, — how  certain  they  were  in  His 
present  existence  at  the  light-hand  of  God,  being 
raised  again  from  the  dead  to  dispense  life  and 
immortality  to  man  : — x\ll  this,  I  say,  comes  home 
to  our  judgments  and  to  our  afiections,  and  by  the 
aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  now  convinces  us 
that  the  Christian  religion  is  the  only  true  one ; 
that  in  trusting  to  its  monitions  and  promises  we 
are  trusting  to  the  very  voice  of  God,  and  that  our 
true  wisdom  and  true  happiness  will  be  in  believ- 
ing the  Scripture,  and  the  Word  which  Jesus  hath 
said. 


NOTE  TO  LECTURE  I. 

Woljli  Curce  PhilohgiccB  et  Criticoc,  Vol.  i.  p.  315. 

"  Some  think  that  this  is  an  argument  adhominem,  and  not  suffi- 
cient of  itself  to  prove  what  is  proposed.  So  Richard  Simon,  in 
Respons.  ad  Judicia  Thcolor/orum  Batavoriwi  de  Historia  sua  Cri- 
tica,  c.  XX.  p.  245,  and  /.  Basnage^  in  Hist.  Jud.  Tom.  iii.  p.  387 ; 
and  for  the  opposite  opinion,  see  Olcariiis  on  this  place,  and  Lacroze, 
Entreticns  sur  divers  siijets,  p.  185,  and  Scherzer  in  Profframm. 
p.  176.  The  opinion  that  our  Lord's  argument  is  to  shew  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  and  not  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  is  main- 
tained in  i\\Q  Confession  of  the  Oriental  Church,  edited  hy  Laurentius 
Normannus,  p.  61.  Now  certainly  the  whole  object  of  the  Sad- 
ducees  who  disputed  with  Christ  is  opposed  to  tliis.  That  they 
wished  here  particularly  to  oppose  the  idea  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
body  may  be  concluded  from  their  bringing  their  argument  from 
matrimonial  connexion,  which  cannot  be  attributed  to  the  soul,  or 
any  existence  deprived  of  bodily  passion,  but  only  of  the  body. 
When  then  our  Saviour  answers  them,  we  must  suppose  that  he 
followed  out  their  original  idea.  Interpreters  differ  in  pointing  oiit 
the  force  of  the  argument ;  w^c  will  bring  that  forward  which  we 
tliink  the  best.  The  Saviour  here  refers  to  the  covenant  made  be- 
tween God  and  the  patriarchs,  see  Gen.  xvii.  7-  '  But  they  with 
whom  God  makes  a  covenant  of  grace,  that  he  will  be  their  God  for 
ever,  they  must  be  recalled  to  life  that  they  may  enjoy  the  promised 
foederal  grace.  This  covenant  is  eternal,  and  therefore  they  who  are 
included  in  it  must  live  for  ever,  and  therefore  be  raised  up.'  So 
Gerhardus  in  Harmonia  Evangelic,  c.  155,  p.  471,  which  Olearius 
in  the  place  cited  above  has  enlarged  and  improved,  by  stating  thus 
the  conclusion  of  the  whole  argument,  that  the  patriarchs  by  virtue 
of  the  covenant  which  God  made  with  them,  through  faith  in  tlie 
promised  seed,  have  already  acquired  the  principle  of  life,  in  virtue 
of  which  the  death  in  which  they  are  now  held  does  not  involve  their 
destruction,  but  the  completion  of  tliat  life  whicli  necessarily  must 

be  exhibited  according  to  the  covenant  at  the  proper  time TVe 

may  remark,  that  the  Jews  refer  to  this  covenant  when  they  wish  to 
prove  the  resurrection  of  tliC  dead.  In  Gemara.  cli.  p^r\,  the  tra- 
dition of  Rabbi  Simai  is  produced :  '  In  what  place  docs  the  Law 
teach  the  Resurrection  of  the  Dead?  Where  it  is  said,  And  I  will 
establish  my  covenant  with  them  to  give  them  the  land  of  Canaan.' 
(Ex.  vi.  4).  For  it  does  not  say  with  you,  but  with  them.  It  is 
also  said  in  the  same  place,  tliat  Gamaliel  produced  against  the  Sad- 
ducees,  when  they  were  demanding  proof  of  the  resurrection  from 
the  Law,  this  place,  '  AVhich  land  the  Lord  sware  unto  your  fathers 
that  he  would  give  them,'  Dent.  xi.  21." 

See  also  the  argimients  of  Eulogius,  quoted  by  Photius,  Biblio- 
theca,  ch.  cxxxi.  p.  886. 


LECTURE    V. 


S.  MATTHEW  XII.  31,  32. 

All  manner  of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto 
men :  but  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall 
not  be  forgiven  unto  men.  And  whosoever  speaheth  a 
word  against  the  Son  of  man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him: 
hut  whosoever  speaketh  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it 
shall  not  he  forgiven  him,  neither  in  this  ivorld,  neither 
in  the  ivorld  to  come. 

TT7E  cannot  be  surprised  that  in  all  ages  of  the 
^ '  Church,  the  meaning  of  the  blasphemy 
against  the  Holy  Ghost  has  been  the  subject  of 
much  consideration  and  argument.  The  awful- 
ness  of  the  sentence,  'hath  never  forgiveness,' 
must  ever  awaken  in  men's  minds  anxious 
thoughts  for  the  future,  and  that  not  only  in  the 
case  of  those  who  really  endeavour  to  walk  in 
holiness  of  life,  but  also  in  the  case  of  all  others : 
for  men  generally  persuade  themselves  that  there 
is  some  hope  for  them  in  the  largeness  of  God's 
mercy,  even  though  they  now  reject  the  law  of 
Christ,  and  disregard  the  restraints  of  the  Gospel. 
Thus  both  religious  and  irreligious  persons  feel 
an  interest  in  fathoming  the  meaning  and  extent 
of  this  remarkable  saying  of  our  Lord,  and  ac- 
cording to  the  different  estimation  in   which  men 

H.L.  I 


118  LECTURE  V. 

have  held  certain  doctrines,  or  certain  practices, 
they  have  arrived  at  conclusions  widely  different 
on  the  subject  of  the  unpardonable  sin. 

A  very  short  reference  to  the  opinions  of  the 
ancients  on  this  subject  will  be  sufficients  The 
most  notable  is  that  of  S.  Augustine,  who  deter- 
mines that  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the 
obstinate  rejection  of  the  Christian  religion,  or 
the  offer  of  remission  of  sins  made  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  through  Christ,  in  the  new  covenant. 
And  the  most  forcible  argument  he  brings  for  his 
view  is,  that  not  only  all  Jews  and  pagans,  but 
all  heretics  are  supposed  upon  their  repentance 
to  be  capable  of  salvation :  and  therefore  Final 
impenitency  must  be  the  blasphemy  which  has 
neither  remission  in  this  world,  nor  in  the  world 
to  come^. 

The  consequence  of  his  view  is  that  no  man 
can  be  said  to  have  committed  the  unpardonable 
sin  so  long  as  he  is  alive,  and  therefore  that  the 
warning  against  it  is  of  a  very  peculiar  and  inde- 
finite kind,  and  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  practical 
in  any  degree ;  and  besides  this,  the  opinion 
referred  to  omits  to  notice  some  particulars  which 
holy  Scripture  gives  us  of  the  characteristics  of 
this  sin,  to  which  we  shall  refer  hereafter. 

S.  Cyprian,  as  was  natural  in  one  of  his  tem- 
perament,   applied    the    scriptural    denunciation 

'  See  Bin<//ia7n's  Antiquities,  Book  xvi.  c.  vii,  §  3,  for  the 
authorities  referred  to. 

^  S.  Au(/ustine,  Ser7)iOXi.  de  Verbis  Domini^  cc.  iii,  xiii,  xxiv. 


LECTURE  V.  119 

against  those  who  in  time  of  persecution  aposta- 
tized from  the  truth,  [as  in  his  16th  Epistle, 
(p.  40)]  and  in  each  successive  age,  those  who 
embraced  the  peculiar  heresy  which  then  was  the 
object  of  the  Church's  censure  were  supposed  to 
commit  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  S. 
Hilary  and  S.  Athanasius  consider  that  those 
who  deny  the  divinity  of  the  Son  were  guilty  of 
it.  S.  Epiphanius,  S.  Ambrose,  and  Philastrius, 
charge  those  who  denied  the  divinity  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  with  the  unpardonable  sin  ;  only  S.  Am- 
brose attaches  the  condition  of  final  impenitency, 
for  he  proclaims  pardon  to  all  who  would  return 
to  the  Church. 

The  Novatians  extended  the  irremediable  state 
to  all  who  committed  sin  after  baptism ^  a  heresy 
revived  in  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  and  ex- 
pressly condemned  by  the  Church  of  England  in 
the  XVI  th  Article. 

Modern  theologians  have  taken  more  general 
views,  and  their  opinions  on  the  subject  may  be 
classed  under  two  heads.  They  either  suppose, 
that  it  was  the  conduct  of  the  Pharisees  to  our 
Lord  on  the  occasion  when  the  words  were  uttered 
that  is  described  as  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
or  that  it  was  the  conduct  of  those  who,  in  after 
times,  by  similarly  calumniating  the  gifts  of  the 

1  Or'igen  and  Theognostus  according  to  S.  Athanasius,  Tom.  i. 
p.  990,  held  this  opinion  :  oTav  o'l  KciTu^iuidevTe'i  ev  tw  /Swn-Tia-iJ.a'ri 
T^v  h())pea<;  tov  djlov  Ilvev|^aTO^  irdXiv  hponrjauxriv  etc  to  dfxaprdvetv. 
See  his  refutation  of  it.  See  also  English  translation  of  Treatises 
against  Avians,  Disc.  i.  c.  xii.  §  50,  pp.  252,  3. 

12 


120  LECTURE  V. 

Spirit,  should  resist  tlie  full  and  perfect  evidence 
which  then  was  to  be  exhibited. 

The  most  elaborate  supporter  of  the  latter  view 
is  Dr  Whitby,  but  of  the  arguments  he  uses  some 
seem  to  be  untenable ^ 

He  says,  '  That  it  is  not  any  blasphemy  against 
the  Spirit  in  his  miraculous  operations,  such  as 
were  casting  out  of  devils,  and  healing  of  diseases, 
which  is  here  styled  the  blasphemy  against  the 
Holy  Ghost.  This  being  here  done  by  the  Pha- 
risees against  the  Son  of  man,  for  he  declareth 
(v.  28)  that  he  did  cast  out  devils  by  the  Spirit 
of  God ;  they  therefore  must  blaspheme  that 
Spirit  by  which  our  Saviour  did  this,  by  saying 
he  cast  out  devils  through  Beelzebub,  the  prince 
of  the  devils;  and  yet  our  Saviour  saith  that  even 
the  blasphemy  against  the  Son  of  man  should 
be  forgiven,  but  it  was  properly  the  blasphemy 
against. the  Holy  Ghost.' 

This  seems  to  me  confused  and  unconclusive. 
The  casting  out  of  devils  is  especially  here  referred 
to.  Our  Saviour  affirms  that  He  did  this  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  or  elsewhere  by  the  linger  of  God, 
denoting  in  each  case  that  the  JDivine  Energy 
wrought  this^.     The  Pharisees,  on  the  other  hand, 

1  See  Dr  Whlthi/s  Paraphrase  with  Annotations  on  the  Neto 
Testament,  Appendix  IV.  to  S.  ]\Iatthew's  Gospel,  '  Concerning  the 
Nature  of  the  Sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,'  §  3. 

2  AoKTuAo?  Qeov,  Cvvafxi<;  voeTTai  Qeov,  hi'  ^c  tj  KTiat<;  TeXetovTat 
ovpavov  KUt  yiji. — Clem.  Alex.  Strom.  VI.  p  G81.  X^io-toV  (xxKrvXov 
mudixaa-e  to  irvevna  Qeov,  Xeyiov,  iroTC  nfn,  Ei  he  iyoa  ev  Trvev/jLaTt 
Qeov  eKfSdXXw  tcI  huifxovia  Trnre  Se,  Ei  ?6   ev  haKTvXio  Qeov  f  K/3«'\Afti 


LECTURE  V.  121 

unable  to  deny  the  power,  attributed  to  an  evil 
spirit  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  And  truly 
this  was  more  properly  blasphemy  against  the 
Holy  Ghost  than  blasphemy  against  the  Son  of 
man.  The  miraculous  operations  which  Christ 
wrought  by  the  Spirit  of  God  they  did  not  deny, 
but  attributed  the  power  through  which  He 
wrought  them  to  the  evil  spirit.  It  was  the 
ascription  of  the  supernatural  power  exercised  by 
Christ  to  this  source  that  called  down  upon  them 
the  denunciation.  Thus  in  S.  Mark's  Gospel, 
after  arguing  with  them  of  the  absurdity  of  the 
supposition,  and  repeating  the  words,  '  He  that 
shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Ghost  hath 
never  forgiveness,'  the  Evangelist  adds,  *  Because 
they  said  He  hath  an  unclean  spirit.' 

They  did  not  deny  Christ's  miracles,  but  the 
power  through  which  He  wrought  them  :  the  blas- 
phemous words  spoken  are  therefore,  not  so  much 
against  Him,  as  against  that  spirit  of  power  whose 
agency  was  here  manifested.  The  supernatural 
work  was  assigned  to  Satan  instead  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  blasphemy  was  therefore  against 
that  Spirits  To  suppose  that  it  has  reference  to 
a  future  display  of  heavenly  gifts  by  which  the 
new  covenant  was  to  be  attested,  is  surely  to  bring 
in  here  a  meaning  far  removed  from  that  which 
the  narrative   suggests.     The  Pharisees  objected 

rd  laifxovia. — Cyrillus  Alex,  dc  Adoratione,  Lib.  i,  p.  8,     See  also 
Isidorus  Pelusiota,  Ep.  lx.  i.  p.  19.     Theopliylact  on  Luke  xi. 
^  See  S.  Paciani,  Ejnstola  ad  Symproniamtm,  c.  32. 


122  LECTURE  V. 

to  the  miracles  which  our  Lord  wrought  as  evi- 
dences of  His  Divine  power.  He  warns  them 
that  this  sin,  if  persisted  in,  was  unpardonable, 
not  that  some  future  sin  they  might  commit  would 
be  unpardonable.  The  warning  loses  its  whole 
force  if  made  to  refer  forward  to  a  case  which 
they  could  not  comprehend,  instead  of  expressly 
referring  to  their  present  contemptuous  and  inju- 
rious suppositions. 

In  favour  of  the  interpretation  to  which  we 
are  now  objecting  it  is  further  urged,  that  the 
Pharisees  could  not  yet  have  committed  the  un- 
pardonable sin,  for  if  they  had  been  guilty  of  it, 
our  Lord  could  not  afterwards  have  prayed  for 
their  forgiveness,  or  offered  them  any  further 
terms  of  mercy  and  salvation ;  and  yet  on  the 
cross  He  prayed  for  the  Pharisees  and  rulers, 
'  Father,  forgive  them,  they  know  not  what  they 
do ;'  and  further  on,  He  says  He  will  send  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  convince  them  of  sin  ;  and  S. 
Peter  says  that  they  crucified  our  Lord  igno- 
rantly,  'as  did  also  your  rulers.' 

There  seems  here  a  fallacy  lurking  in  the  use 
of  the  word  '  unpardonable  ^'  All  state  of  sin  must 
bring  death.  Any  wilful  sin  persisted  in  against 
warning  and  without  repentance  must  work  death 
eternal.  But  in  every  aise  persiste?ice  in  sin  must 
be    understood,    and    persistence    in    wilful    sin. 

^  It  is  called  dava-riKti  dixaprla  by  O^cumenius  and  Atlianasius  ; 
al/a7^o'I'(7r7■o<;  by  Cyril  of  Alexandria ;  and  dvaTroTonrTo^,  a^vKTo<: 
by  S.  Basil — avairoXdyrjTO'i  and  da-vy^^wpt]To<;, 


LECTURE  V.  123 

When  we  pray  to  God  in  the  Litany  that  it  may 
please  Him  to  have  mercy  upon  all  men,  we  do 
this  rightly,  because  we  read  that  God  would  have 
all  men  to  be  saved  ;  but  we  do  not  mean  to  pray 
to  Him  that  He  will  give  them  eternal  life  ivhile 
they  remain  in  sin,  or  die  in  alienation  from  Him. 
The  meaning  of  'unpardonable'  is  not  that  it  is 
impossible  that  such  a  sin  should  be  pardoned, 
even  upon  repentance,  but  the  absolute  and  entire 
want  of  all  plea  of  mitigation,  such  as  ignorance, 
weakness,  misinformation,  want  of  clearness, 
feeble  understanding.  When  S.  John  bids  us 
not  pray  for  the  brother  who  commits  the  sin 
unto  death,  we  must  understand  him  as  telling  us 
that  the  only  plea  that  can  be  urged  for  deliver- 
ance of  such  an  one  from  punishment  is  in  this 
case  non-existent,  and  therefore  that  it  would  be 
wrong  to  ask  God  to  excuse  and  pardon  on  the 
score  of  frailty  or  ignorance,  a  wilful  rejection 
of  what  He  himself  hath  given  to  save  us  from 
perdition. 

I  cannot  perceive  that  there  is  any  inconsis- 
tency in  proclaiming  a  certain  sin  to  be  unpar- 
donable, and  yet  also  praying  that  men  may 
repent  of  that  sin.  If  we  may  charitably  and 
properly  intreat  of  the  Almighty  that  He  would 
turn  away  all  his  erring  creatures  from  sin ;  this 
means  that  leaving  their  errors  they  may  be  con- 
verted unto  Him  ;  that  faith  and  charity  may  be 
given  them,  and  that  out  of  the  darkness  of 
ignorance   they  may   come  to   the  knowledge  of 


124  LECTURE  V. 

His  truth ^;  and  if  this  is  right  and  reasonable, 
generally,  especially  must  it  be  so  when  the  sin 
is  one  to  remain  in  which  is  eternal  death.  When 
Christ  prayed  for  his  murderers,  it  was  because 
of  their  ignorance  that  he  prayed  their  sin,  in  all 
its  horror,  might  not  be  imputed  to  them — 'Father, 
forgive  them,  they  know  not  what  they  do.'  This 
is  different  from  a  prayer  that  they  might  repent. 
Christ  himself  prayed  not  for  the  impenitent.  '  I 
pray  not  for  the  world,  but  for  them  which  thou 
hast  given  me  out  of  the  world.'  The  world,  as  such, 
lieth  in  wickedness,  but  may  repent  and  be  saved. 
The  denunciation  of  the  unpardonable  nature  of 
blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  I  understand 
in  the  same  sense,  not  as  meaning  impossibility 
of  repentance^  and  forgiveness  upon  repentance, 
but  rather  as  indicating, — (i)  that  all  pleas  in  arrest 
of  punishment,  such  as  weakness,  ignorance,  and 
want  of  understanding,  are  in  this  case  excluded, 
and, — (2)  that  it  is  a  sin  which  tends  to  the  state 
of  hardened  impenitence. 

We  have  further  to  consider  the  meaning  of 
the  phrase,  '  The  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given,' 

^  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity^  B.  v.  c.  49,  §  C,  quoting 
Prosper. 

2  S.  Athanasius,  de  Communi  Essentia  Triiim  Personarum^ 
Torn.  I. :  <r»7jueia)(ra<r0a(  "XP^  otj  ovk  elirev  6  XjOio-to?  tw  /3Ka<T(prj- 
fxt^aavri  kui  fxeravoovvTi^  ovk  dcpeOtjaeTai,  aWd  tw  iSXaacptj/xovvTi^ 
e'lT  ovp,  TM  ev  T>]  fS\aa-(pt]nia  iirifxevovTi'  eirei^tjTrep  ovk  e<TTiv  dixapTia 
d<Tvy)^oopriro<;  irapa  tw  Gew  ev  to7<;  jvt]a-i(o<;  Ka\  kqt'  d^'tav  juerai/ooDo-j. 
I  do  not  quote  this  for  its  accuracy/  since  tw  /3\aa-(pt]ptjaavTi  is  used 
in  S.  Luke  xii.  10;  but  the  idea  is  the  same  as  that  which  is  main- 
tained above. 


LECTURE  V.  125 

or,  as  it  is  in  the  Greek  text,  'The  Holy  Ghost 
was  not  yet,'  which  is  urged  as  another  reason 
why  the  Pharisees  could  not  at  this  time  have 
committed  the  unpardonable  sin.  Christ  there  is 
speaking  of  the  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  Spirit, 
by  which  the  new  dispensation  was  to  be  attested, 
or  in  other  words,  to  the  new  manifestation  of  the 
Spirit ;  for  that  the  Spirit  of  God  in  His  ordinary 
operations  (and  also  in  His  extraordinary,  in  time 
of  old,)  was  even  then  present  with  men,  though 
not  in  the  same  degree  of  influence  upon  their 
hearts  as  He  was  to  be  hereafter,  is  testified  by 
those  words  which  Christ  addressed  to  the  Apo- 
stles, 'He  dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you.' 
The  Holy  Spirit  strove  with  men  before  the  ascen- 
sion of  Christ,  as  may  be  shewn  from  many 
records  of  the  Scriptures,  His  agency  being  less 
direct  and  less  individual  than  under  the  Chris- 
tian covenant.  Even  while  our  Lord  was  Himself 
appealing  to  His  teaching  which  was  the  result  of 
His  anointing  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  His  super- 
natural M  orks  which  He  wrought  by  the  Spirit  of 
Power,  this  same  Spirit  certainly  was  striving 
with  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  all  who  listened 
and  beheld.  It  was  that  Spirit  which  the  Baptist 
saw  descending  upon  the  Son  of  man,  when  He 
entered  upon  His  solemn  office ;  and  though  the 
singular  confirmation  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
wrought  at  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  yet  wanting, 
there  was  nevertheless,  undoubtedly,  in  the  fact 
of  Christ's  miracles  a  testimony  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 


126  LECTURE  V. 

and  the  rejection  of  this  testimony  constituted  a 
sin  against  the  third  Person  of  the  Blessed  Trinity. 

We  are  therefore  inclined  to  consider  that  the 
sin  of  the  Pharisees  was  the  rejecting  the  evidence 
of  the  miracles,  done  by  Christ,  in  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  in  order  to  attest  his  mission 
from  the  Father.  It  was  peculiarly  a  sin  against 
the  Holy  Ghost,  we  are  told;  and  the  most  obvious 
circumstance  upon  which  we  can  fasten  the  atten- 
tion is  this  error  of  theirs  in  rejecting  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  proof  and  credential  of 
the  divine  origin  of  the  system,  rather  than  the 
system  itself.  The  former  no  doubt  entailed  the 
latter,  but  its  guilt  is  to  be  measured  by  other 
rules  than  those  which  will  be  applied  to  the  case 
of  men  who  reject  the  whole  system  from  igno- 
rance or  misapprehension. 

We  must  notice,  too,  that  S.  John  speaks  of  it 
as  a  sin  which  is  committed  in  the  Church:  'If 
any  man  see  his  brother  sin  a  sin  which  is  not 
unto  death,  he  shall  ask,  and  he  shall  give  him  life 
for  them  which  sin  not  unto  death.  There  is  a  sin 
unto  death.  I  do  not  say  that  he  shall  pray  for  it.' 
So  of  old  to  the  Church  in  Judaea.  Jeremiah  pro- 
claims like  fruitlessness  of  intercession  for  those 
who  would  not  hear  the  messengers :  '  Because  I 
spake  unto  you,  rising  up  early  and  speaking,  but 
ye  heard  not;  and  I  called  you,  but  ye  answered 
not.  Therefore  will  I  do  unto  this  house  which  is 
called  by  my  name  as  I  have  done  to  Shiloh. 
Therefore  pray  not  thou  for  this  people,  neither 


LECTURE  V.  127 

lift  up  cry  nor  prayer  for  them,  neither  make 
intercession  for  them,  for  I  will  not  hear  thee.' 

If  then  we  apply  to  ourselves  the  warning 
which  this  denunciation  of  the  heinousness  of  the 
unpardonable  sin  may  suggest,  we  should  con- 
clude that  its  guilt  is  incurred  by  those  who 
discredit  and  reject  the  miraculous  evidences  of 
Christianity,  while  yet  they  call  themselves  Chris- 
tians ^  At  first  sight  this  may  appear  to  be  an 
inference  considerably  removed  from  the  case  of 
the  Pharisees,  and  not  to  follow  very  obviously 
from  what  has  been  said  in  opposition  to  the  view 
which  Dr  Whitby  and  others  have  adopted.  And 
it  will  therefore  be  necessary  to  establish  the 
conclusion  by  means  of  a  somewhat  extended 
argument. 

We  shall  endeavour  to  shew,  in  the  first  place, 
that  the  work  of  convincing  men  of  any  divine 
truth  is  generally  in  Scripture  said  to  be  that  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

2.  That  when  God  vouchsafes  to  man  pecu- 
liar and  special  proofs  of  his  being  the  author 
of  a  Revelation,  there  must  be  deep  and  grievous 
sin  in  rejecting  such  evidence,  tendered  as  it  were 
by  God  to  man. 

3.  That  though  in  a  certain  sense  the  internal 
character  of  the  revelation  should  be  a  subject  of 
investigation  before  we  yield  to  the  external  evi- 
dence, yet  such  internal  character  alone  cannot 

^  See  Bede,  quoted  by  Fulke^  Rhemish  Testament,  on  1  John  v. 
16. 


128  LECTURE   V. 

convince  without  the  corroborating  testimony  of 
miraculous  powers  in  the  teacher. 

4.  That  we  are  to  conclude  that  the  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost  may  be  committed  now 
by  those  who  reject  the  miracles  and  prophecies 
of  Scripture,  notwithstanding  they  claim  the 
name  of  Christian,  and  profess  belief  in  Christ  as 
the  author  of  a  system  of  moral  reformation. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  the  divine  action  upon 
the  hearts  and  intellects  of  men  is  especially 
described  to  us  as  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

This  work  is  of  two  kinds,  internal  influence, 
or  external  sign.  The  former  direct,  the  latter 
indirect.  The  direct  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
upon  men's  hearts  may  be  either  of  the  nature 
of  suasion,  and  then  it  requires  willingness  on  the 
part  of  the  subject  of  the  influence  exerted,  and 
partakes  of  the  nature  of  the  latter  or  external 
influence,  being  not  irresistible;  or  it  may  be 
irresistible,  reducing  the  human  being  on  whom 
it  is  exerted  to  an  instrument,  and  in  this  case  it 
is  generally  meant  to  produce  an  indirect  action 
upon  others. 

The  first  kind  of  internal  influence  is  the 
striving  of  the  Spirit  of  God  with  man's  conscience, 
and  we  are  taught  that  there  is  this  one  great 
mark  of  the  new  covenant,  that  all  who  are  called 
by  God's  grace  into  the  fold  of  Christ  in  tliis 
world  are  subject  to  the  Spirit's  strivings,  they 
are  illuminated,  having  a  conscience  touched  by 
a  coal  from  the  altar  of  God,  and  are  thus  made 


LECTURE  V.  129 

sensible  of  the  warfare  between  the  flesh  of  the 
carnal  element,  and  the  Spirit  or  the  heavenly 
element.  '  The  Spirit  lusteth  against  the  flesh, 
and  the  flesh  against  the  Spirit,  in  order  that  ye 
may  not  do  the  things  to  which  ye  are  inclined 
naturally.'  And  the  absence  of  this  striving  of 
the  Spirit  is  the  state  of  unconverted  heathenism, 
or  of  spiritual  death  and  reprobation.  '  Know  ye 
not  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you,  except 
ye  be  reprobate  V 

Of  the  second  kind  of  internal  influence  is 
the  action  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the  minds  of  the 
prophets,  properly  called  Inspiration.  This  is 
directly  asserted  to  be  the  case  in  times  of  old 
in  such  passages  of  Scripture  as  the  following: 

When  Saul  was  chosen  of  the  prophet  Samuel 
he  was  told  that  on  meeting  the  children  of  the 
schools  of  the  prophets,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
should  come  upon  him,  and,  animated  with  a 
supernatural  energy,  he  should  join  their  sacred 
band,  and  utter  words  dictated  by  divine  influ- 
ence. 

'  And  it  was  so,  that  when  he  had  turned  his 
back  to  go  from  Samuel,  God  gave  him  another 
heart,  and  all  those  signs  came  to  pass  that  day. 
And  when  they  came  thither  to  the  hill,  behold,  a 
company  of  prophets  met  him,  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
came  upon  him,  and  he  prophesied  among  them.' 

When  Jehoram  and  Jehoshaphat  went  out 
against  Moab,  and,  at  the  request  of  the  latter,  the 
advice  of  Elisha  was  sought,  the  prophet  calls  for  a 


130  LECTURE  V. 

minstrel.  'And  it  came  to  pass,  while  the  minstrel 
played,  that  the  hand  of  the  Lord  came  upon 
him,  and  he  prophesied.' 

Isaiah,  in  prophetic  trance,  describes  himself 
as  acted  on  in  the  same  manner,  and  was  under 
this  influence  when  the  vision  of  glory  was  vouch- 
safed to  him  in  the  templet 

Similar  to  these  is  the  instance  recorded  of 
Abraham,  who  in  the  horror  of  thick  darkness 
saw  a  mysterious  representation  of  the  accept- 
ance of  his  sacrifice  by  God,  the  burning  lamp 
passing  between  the  pieces  which  had  been 
divided,  as  was  the  method  of  making  a  covenant 
(Jer.  xxxiv.  19 — 28);  that  of  Balaam  also,  who, 
being  himself  an  unwilling  agent,  was  made  sub- 
ject to  the  divine  power  when  the  Spirit  of  God 
came  upon  him,  and  in  his  parable  he  uttered 
words  which  proclaimed  the  utter  failure  of  his 
covetous  and  selfish  schemes.  In  the  new  dispen- 
sation we  have  S.  John  declaring  himself  to  be 
in  the  Spirit  when  he  had  revealed  to  him  the 
fortunes  of  the  Christian  Church  to  the  end  of  the 
world ;  and  those  who,  in  the  early  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity, had  the  gift  of  tongues,  must  have  been 
under  the  same  kind  of  direct  internal  influence; 
their  personality  or  individuality  being  for  the 
time  absorbed  in  the  presence  of  the  mighty, 
mysterious  agent  who  led  and  controlled  them. 

The   most   abundant   exercise    of    the    direct 
internal  influence  is  no  doubt  that  of  prophecy, 

^  See  also  of  Azariak,  1  Chron.  xv.  1. 


LECTURE  V.  131 

ill  which  the  subjects  of  God's  marvellous  work 
are  said  to  be  out  of  themselves  {e^ecxTrjKevai),  and 
the  peculiar  state  of  mental  trance  in  which  pro- 
phets are  {to  'iSiov  rod  fxavrew^  of  S.  Chrysostom),  is 
one  in  which  the  subject  is  transported  or  elated 
by  a  divine  power  (OeocpopoviJievoi).  Men  in  this 
state  are  said  to  be  in  an  e/fcrrao-ts,  when,  as  Ham- 
mond says,  the  outward  senses  being  bound  up 
as  it  were  in  sleep,  God's  will  is  inwardly  revealed 
to  the  understanding  by  way  of  intellectual  vision. 

Now  it  is  apparent  to  every  one  that  this 
inspiration  is  said  unambiguously  to  be  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  '  Holy  men  of  old  spake  as  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not  of  their 
own  motion  or  setting  free'  {e-n-iXvaL^f,  and  thus  we 
have  all  the  internal  influence  upon  men's  minds 
attributed  to  the  Divine  Spirit,  both  that  which  is 
personal  and  private,  and  meant  for  their  own 
edifying,  and  also  that  which  is  prophetic,  and 
meant  for  the  edification  of  the  Church. 

Moreover,  of  the  external  influences,  or  those 
interferences  with  the  natural  order  of  things 
which  are  of  the  nature  of  signs,  we  also  have  it 
expressly  recorded  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the 
Author.  OthnieFs  valour,  Saul's  zeal  for  the  men 
of  Jabesh,  Sampson's  feats  of  strength,  exhibited 
as  a  sign  to  the  Philistines,  are  said  to  be  the 
work  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and  strange  events, 
which  were  apprehended  only,  are  ascribed  to  the 
agency  of  the  Spirit,  as  when  Obadiah  expressed 
1  2S.  Peter  i.  20,  21. 


132  LECTURE  V. 

his  fears  to  Elijah,  lest  he  should  be  mysteriously 
carried  away,  while  he  delivered  the  prophet's 
message  to  the  King  of  Israel  his  master.  And 
the  sons  of  tlie  prophets,  when  they  were  doubtful 
of  the  reality  of  Elijah's  translation,  conjectured 
the  possibility  of  his  having  been  carried  away 
by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  as  in  after  times  Philip 
was  from  the  Ethiopian  eunuch. 

The  miraculous  manifestations  of  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  and  all  those  which  were  granted  as 
signs  and  wonders  to  convince  the  unbelieving 
at  the  outset  of  Christianity,  are  affirmed  by  S. 
Paul,  both  gifts  of  healing,  working  of  miracles, 
prophecy,  discerning  of  spirits,  divers  kinds  of 
tongues,  and  their  interpretation,  to  have  been 
wrought  by  that  one  and  the  selfsame  Spirit, 
dividing  to  every  man  severally  as  He  will.  When 
he  says,  that  God  bore  witness  to  the  first  mes- 
sengers of  Christianity  by  signs  and  wonders,  by 
divers  miracles  and  gifts,  he  ascribes  them  directly 
to  this  source,  and  affirms  that  they  were  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost\ 

Even  in  the  case  of  our  Blessed  Saviour,  the 
significant  events  of  His  life,  as  well  as  the  power 
exercised  supernaturally,  are  all  ascribed  to  the 
Holy  Ghost.  It  is  not  necessary  to  do  more 
than  mention  the  Incarnation  and  Miraculous 
Conception  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  temptation  in  the  wilderness  to  which  He 
was  led  of  the  Spirit,  the  expiatory  sacrifice,  of 

'  See  Romans  xv.  18,  19,  and  Bishop  Terrot's  Paraphrase,  in  loco. 


LECTURE  V.  133 

which  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
writes  that,  through  the  eternal  Spirit  Christ 
offered  Himself  without  spot  to  God ;  or  the  re- 
surrection, in  reference  to  which  S.  Peter  says 
that  Christ  was  quickened  by  the  Spirit  after  His 
passion. 

When  inaugurated  to  His  prophetical  office,  it 
was  by  the  Holy  Ghost  visibly  descending  upon 
Him,  the  fact  itself  being  accompanied  by  an 
attestation  from  heaven,  and  this  is  called  after- 
wards, in  reference  to  a  passage  in  the  prophecy 
of  Isaiah  (Ixi.  1),  '  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  being 
upon  him.'  With  this  came  the  bestowal  of  other 
extraordinary  powers  and  gifts,  as  Christ  is  said 
by  S.  Peter  (Acts  x.  38)  to  be  '  anointed  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  power:'  and  in  virtue  of 
this  effusion  and  unction  He  Himself  says  that 
He  cast  out  devils  through  the  Spirit  of  God 
(S.  Matth.  xii.  28). 

In  all  these  cases  of  external  effects  wrought 
as  signs  we  have  it  affirmed  that  God's  Holy  Spirit 
was  the  real  agent :  so  that  we  think  it  is  clearly 
made  out  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that,  as  a 
general  assertion,  the  means  internal  and  external 
used  by  the  Almighty  for  influencing  men's  minds 
to  the  acceptance  of  His  laws  and  revelations 
are  specially  ascribed  to  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

As  far  as  it  is  internal  and  direct,  we  nnist 
suppose  this  agency  to  have  been  employed  more 
or  less  at  all  times.  S.  Peter  speaks  of  the  Spirit 
H.  L.  K 


134  LECTURE  V. 

Striving  with  men  before  the  flood,  and  S.  Stephen 
addresses  the  Jewish  rulers  as  resisting  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  the  same  way  and  degree  that  the  Fathers 
had  done^  We  must,  however,  undoubtedly  con- 
clude from  the  words  of  our  Saviour  that  such 
striving  of  the  Spirit  was  not  universal,  as  it  is 
promised  to  be  under  the  Christian  dispensation. 
That  the  Holy  Ghost  strove  with  the  Pharisees 
during  the  time  they  heard  our  Lord's  teaching  we 
cannot  doubt,  but  still  on  the  occasion  to  which 
the  words  of  the  text  refer,  He  was  reproving  them 
for  resisting  something  more  than  the  ordinary 
influence  which  was  by  preaching  brought  to 
bear  upon  their  hearts.  In  the  one  case  we  may 
call  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  the  subjugation 
of  the  affections  of  men,  and  in  the  other  it  is 
the  subjugation  of  their  intellects ;  and  we  are 
justified  in  forming  this  distinction  by  the  words 
of  the  Sacred  Record, — irrational  as  it  may  seem, 
philosophically  speaking :  undoubtedly  when  the 
judgment  is  convinced,  obedience  ought  to  follow; 
but  it  seems  to  be  a  law  of  mankind  that  the 
affections  do  not  necessarily  follow  the  judg- 
ment. Many  believe  in  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
religion,  whose  faith  comes  short  even  of  that  of 
the  fallen  spirits,  and  do  not  even  tremble  at  the 

'  Neliemiali  ix.  20 :  '  Thou  gavest  also  thy  good  Spirit  to  instruct 
them.'  Numbers  xi.  17;  Isaiah  Ixiii.  11.  On  this  subject  see  S. 
Athanasius's  Treatises  against  Arianism,  (Oxf.  Transl.)  p.  230  and 
note  tliere;  p.  249.  As  to  the  heresy  which  taught  that  the  Spirit 
which  spake  in  the  prophets  was  different  from  that  which  speaks 
now  in  the  Apostles  of  Christ,  sec  Oriffen  on  Titus,  t.  4,  p.  695. 


LECTURE  V.  135 

alternative  which  awaits  them  according  to  their 
own  convictions.  Thus  it  is  said  that  '  many  of 
the  Jews  believed  in  Jesus  when  they  saw  the 
miracles  that  He  did ;'  yet  He  would  not  trust 
Himself  to  these  persons,  because  He  knew  their 
hearts  were  not  subdued  to  His  doctrine,  while 
yet  their  understandings  were  convinced  by  His 
miracles.  And  there  were  many  of  the  Jews  who 
would  not  recognize  Him  as  the  Messias,  who 
yet,  it  is  said,  believed  on  Him  on  account  of  His 
miracles.  '  Many  of  the  people  believed  on  Him, 
and  said,  When  Christ  cometh,  w^ill  He  do  more 
miracles  than  these  which  this  man  hath  done?' 
Many  even  among  the  chief  rulers  believed,  who 
would  not  confess  Him  '  because  of  the  Pharisees, 
lest  they  should  be  put  out  of  the  synagogue;  for 
they  loved  the  praise  of  men  more  than  the  praise 
of  God.'  Simon  Magus,  when  he  saw  the  mira- 
cles of  Philip  'believed,'  though  he  was  'yet  in  the 
gall  of  bitterness,  and  the  bond  of  iniquity  ;'  and 
this  faith,  which  is  not  the  belief  of  the  heart 
with  which  man  'believeth  unto  justification'  (Rom. 
X.  10),  was  wrought  in  many,  without  doubt,  by 
the  exhibition  of  supernatural  power  :  all  convic- 
tions being  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost ; — both 
the  conviction  of  the  judgment,  by  wonders  and 
signs, — and  the  conviction  of  the  heart,  by  which 
the  affections  are  influenced  :  but  the  two,  not 
being  necessarily  or  universally  joined  together, 
being  neither  wrought  by  the  same  means  nor  at 
the  same  time.     Now  all  the  external  influence. 


136  LECTURE  V. 

and  the  indirect  internal  influence,  must  tend  to  the 
former  object  rather  than  the  latter, — to  compel 
the  recognition  of  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity 
rather  than  to  bring  home  its  soul-subduing  power 
to  the  heart.  And  we  have  been  specially  con- 
cerned to  shew  on  this  occasion  that  the  works 
which  the  Divine  Wisdom  has  appointed  for  the 
conviction  of  man's  judgment,  in  miracles  and 
signs  and  wonders,  are  throughout  revelation 
generally  called  the  works  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in 
order  to  prove  that  it  is  these  supernatural  evi- 
dences which  were  the  subject  of  the  argument 
between  our  Lord  and  his  objectors,  and  to  make 
it  clear  that  when  he  denovniced  upon  them  so 
terrible  a  woe,  it  was  because  they  rejected  these 
signs,  and  in  rejecting  them,  they  in  some  manner 
specially  rejected  the  testimony  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  committed  blasphemy  against  Him. 

Not  only  must  we  keep  in  mind  the  distinction 
between  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  men's 
hearts,  and  the  workings  of  the  same  Divine 
Spirit  for  convincing  the  judgment,  we  must  also 
notice  a  very  considerable  difference  between  the 
former  influence,  as  promised,  and  now  exercised 
under  the  Christian  dispensation, — and  the  general 
testimony  to  the  existence  and  moral  government 
of  God  which  the  natural  order  of  the  universe 
furnishes.  It  is  important  to  call  attention  to  this 
distinction,  because  of  the  words  of  our  Saviour 
and  His  apostles,  indicating  a  general  action  of 
the  Spirit  on  all  the   members  of  the  new  cove- 


LECTURE  V.  137 

iiant,  as  a  characteristic  of  that  covenant ;  a  dis- 
tinction of  which  we  shall  hereafter  have  to  make 
use  of  when  we  urge  more  closely  the  conclusion 
to  which  we  are  tending.  To  the  heathen,  S. 
Paul  tells  us,  *  God  hath  not  left  himself  without 
witness.'  This  is  the  New  Testament  recognition 
of  what  is  called  Natural  Religion.  All  men  may, 
to  a  certain  degree,  from  the  works  of  creation 
learn  a  testimony  of  God  against  unrighteousness. 
*  The  eternal  power  and  Godhead  are  clearly  seen 
from  the  creation  of  the  world,  being  understood 
from  things  created.'  'The  heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God.'  And  in  this  sense,  God  is  '  not  far 
from  any  one  of  the  sons  of  men.'  Now,  be  it  ob- 
served, the  Pharisees  did  not  reject  this  testimony, 
and  therefore  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  is  not 
the  rejection  of  such  truths  as  may  be  learned 
from  the  works  of  God,  without  revelation.  Nei- 
ther can  it  be  the  teaching  of  the  Son  of  man, 
i.e.  of  Christ  in  His  human  capacity ;  for  it  is  the 
distinction  between  this  teaching  and  something 
else  that  makes  the  chief  point  in  our  Lord's 
denunciation.  It  is  not  the  resistance  to  that 
doctrine,  which  is  here  intended,  heart-searching 
though  it  be,  and  fatal  as  may  be  the  result  of 
obduracy.  Ignorance  and  want  of  mental  capa- 
bility may,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  bars  to  the 
reception  of  certain  doctrines  affirmed  only  by 
the  Son  of  man,  even  though  He  spake  as  never 
man  spake.  It  must  therefore  be  resistance  to  the 
truth   when   coming   with   undeniable    authority, 


138  LECTURE  V. 

an  authority  divine,  and  therefore  specially  the 
resistance  to  the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit, 
that  attestation  which  through  the  Divine  Spirit 
our  Lord  gave  to  His  teaching,  and  to  which  He 
appealed  when  He  gave  answer  to  the  inquiries 
of  John's  disciples,  '  Go  and  tell  John  again  the 
things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see.  The  blind 
receive  their  sight,  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are 
cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are  raised  up, 
the  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them.'  It 
was  the  rejecting  these  signs  and  wonders  wrought 
through  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  made 
the  case  of  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida  so  much  worse 
than  that  of  the  heathen,  because  they  would  not 
be  convinced  by  the  mighty  works  which  had 
been  done  in  them.  When  Christ  upbraided  these 
cities,  in  which  most  of  His  miglity  works  had 
been  done,  He  was  using  the  same  argument  which 
the  Almighty  had  addressed  in  olden  time  to 
Ezekiel,  '  Thou  art  not  sent  to  a  people  of  strange 
speech  and  hard  language.  Surely  had  I  sent  thee 
to  them,  they  would  have  hearkened  unto  thee.' 
And  when  our  Lord  said,  '  If  ye  believe  not  me, 
believe  the  works,'  He  was  drawing  the  distinction 
which  He  here  urges  on  the  Pharisees.  Powerful 
and  convincing  as  ought  to  have  been  the  teaching 
of  the  Son  of  man,  yet  if  this  prevailed  not,  there 
was  the  still  stronger  testimony  of  the  mighty 
works,  the  works  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  '  If  I  had  not 
done  among  them  the  works  which  none  other  man 
did,  they  had  not  had  sin.'    To  reject  these  was  to 


LECTURE  V.  139 

reject  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  incur 
the  guilt  of  the  unpardonable  sin'. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  rejection  of 
the  supernatural  testimony  given  by  Christ  is  the 
sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  peculiarly  and  em- 
phatically so  described,  and  thus  that  it  consists 
in  the  rejection  of  the  evidence  offered  by  Christ 
that  He  was  sent  from  God,  rather  than  in  the 
opposition  of  the  corrupt  element  in  man  to  the 
ordinary  striving  of  the  Spirit,  or  the  testimony 
of  creation  to  the  divine  attributes. 

The  peculiar  malignity  of  this  sin  should  be 
the  next  subject  for  our  consideration,  and  the 
reason  why  it  should  call  for  so  fearful  a  sen- 
tence. 

First,  it  proceeds,  as  S.  John  testifies,  from  an 
obstinate  and  hardened  disposition.  '  Though  He 
had  done  so  many  miracles,  yet  they  believed  not 
on  Him.'  'That  the  saying  of  Esaias  the  prophet 
might  be  fulfilled  which  he  spake.  Lord  who 
hath  believed  our  report  and  to  whom  hath  the 
arm  of  the  Lord  been  revealed ;  therefore  they 
could  not  believe^.'  'And  because  that  Esaias  said 
again,  He  hath  blinded  their  eyes,  and  hardened 
their  heart;  that  they  should  not  see  with  their 

^  Photius,  Ep.  CXXVII.  p.  167,  &c.  :  to??  fxev  yap  drro  rwv  dv0po3- 
TTiKtoTepMv  Ka\  TaTreivoTepuJv  (yKavhaXia-OeTanv  eTrl  tw  BctrTroVj;  XjOio-tw, 
paZ'ia  »;'  Bia  twit  /jLet^ovoov  ko.)  v\l^t]XoTepwv  fxeTajSoXt]  Koi  tj  (i(p€(n<;.  to7<; 
Be  TTjoos  Ta  TTvevpaTiKa  Ka.\  BeTa  aTrovot^deTai,  iray^dXe-JTo^  i]  Ka\ 
atvvaTO^  r]  tiopdw(Ti<;.  Ata  tovto  kui  ovhc-fx'ta  twv  'K\r]fXjxe\t]QevTUiv 
aTravTrja-ei  a(pe(7i<s. 

2  On  this  punctuation,  see  Alford. 


140  LECTURE  V. 

eyes,  nor  understand  with  their  heart,  and  be 
converted,  and  I  should  heal  them.'  And  in  the 
next  place,  when  they  proceeded  to  attribute  to 
the  evil  spirit,  or  to  an  alliance  of  the  Saviour 
with  the  power  of  Satan,  that  authority  which  He 
undoubtedly  exercised,  they  were  rejecting  God's 
own  testimony  to  His  own  work  in  the  most  offen- 
sive manner. 

If  God  suspended  His  own  laws  in  order  to 
prove  that  Christ  was  sent  from  Him  ;  if  He  gave 
to  Jesus  the  Son  of  man  power  over  creation,  to 
alter,  suspend,  and  abrogate  for  a  time  the  laws 
by  which  He  governs  the  universe,  it  cannot  be 
a  light  matter  to  reject  such  undeniably  powerful 
testimony.  Such  refusal  to  accept  God's  own 
witness  of  Himself  is  called  tempting  and  wearying 
God,  and  tremendous  woes  were  denounced  upon 
the  house  of  David  to  Ahaz  when  this  evil  dis- 
posed king  refused  to  ask  for  a  sign,  God  having 
offered  to  convince  him  by  some  extraordinary 
exercise  of  power.  The  peculiar  wickedness  of 
rejecting  the  evidences  of  the  divine  origin  of 
Christianity  as  distinguished  from  rejecting  the 
doctrine  itself  arises  out  of  this,  that  the  latter  is 
a  man's  sin  against  himself,  but  the  former  is 
destructive  of  the  faith  of  others.  It  is  in  moral 
and  spiritual  matters  akin  to  the  fiendish  spirit 
which  in  ordinary  life  is  manifested  by  those  who 
not  only  delight  in  iniquity,  but  endeavour  to 
break  down  in  the  innocent  the  barriers  set  up 
against  vice ;  who  not  only  hate  what  is  virtuous 


LECTURE  V.  141 

and  good,  but  take  pleasure  in  infusing  their 
hateful  principles  into  the  hearts  of  others.  So 
in  the  case  we  are  considering,  the  attempted  de- 
struction of  the  evidences  of  divine  authority  in 
our  Saviour  is  putting  a  stumblingblock  in  the 
path  of  the  blind,  and  offending  the  little  ones 
that  believe  in  Christ;  than  which  it  were  'better 
that  a  man  had  a  millstone  hanged  about  his 
neck,  and  that  he  were  cast  into  the  sea,'  i.  e.  the 
penalty  of  such  a  crime  is  greater  than  personal 
destruction. 

If  the  greatness  of  salvation  is  attested  by  the 
singular  confirmation  which  God  gave  to  it  in 
signs  and  wonders,  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
as  is  affirmed  by  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  proportionably  great  must  be  the  con- 
demnation incurred  by  those  who  not  only  refuse 
that  salvation,  but  malign,  and  distort,  and  slander 
the  proofs  which  God  gave  of  His  having  sent  a 
revelation  to  mankind^ 

What  greater  offence  against  the  majesty  of 
God  than  the  imputation  thus  cast  upon  Him, 
that  He  permitted  Satan  to  contrive  lying  won- 
ders, even  against  Himself,  to  deceive  mankind  in 
the  things  which  are  of  the  most  unbounded  im- 
portance to  them  ;  and  that,  too,  in  order  to  teach 

1  The  author  of  the  Qucestiones  et  Responsiones  ad  Ovthodoxos, 
Qu.  cviii.  says  of  the  Jews  forbidding  the  Apostles,  eKreXelv  6e7a 
epyci  iv  Tj;  cvvafxei  tou  dy'iov  Di/eJ/xaTo?  jivofxeva,  ovk  e<TTiv  (XKOvaiov 
dyvoia^  <TvyjvwfXtjv  ecpeXKO/xevrj^  a'w'  iyviaa-fxevr]^  eKova-'iov  Qeona-)(ia': 
Tifiuyp'iav  i(pe\KOfievti<!. 


142  LECTURE  V. 

truth  and  honesty?  The  absurdity  of  the  charge 
is  in  aggravation  of  its  wickedness.  When  the 
object  of  God's  interference  is  really  to  promote 
men's  happiness,  and  rescue  them  from  the  do- 
minion of  sin,  to  relieve  them  from  the  bondage 
to  which  they  are  subject,  and  bring  them  into 
the  glorious  liberty  of  sons  of  God ; — while  this  is 
the  object, — it  yet  charges  the  Deity  with  being  in 
league  with  the  enemy  of  God  and  man  for  the 
cheating  and  misleading  of  mankind. 

Surely  such  a  sin  is  rebellion  of  the  deepest 
dye,  an  insult  of  the  most  unpardonable  kind. 
It  charges  God's  message  to  men  with  falsehood, 
his  condescension  with  malignity,  his  spontaneous 
offer  of  the  most  convincing  proofs  with  cruelty 
and  deception.  If  a  messenger  from  heaven,  to 
prove  his  mission,  claims  divine  power,  and  ac- 
tually exercises  it, — when  it  is  rejected,  despised, 
insulted,  what  further  proof  can  be  given?  If 
insinuations  or  broad  assertions  of  falsehood  are 
made  against  the  works  of  the  very  finger  of  God, 
can  we  conceive  that  any  denunciation  of  punish- 
ment for  such  wickedness  is  too  strong,  any 
penalty  too  severe  for  the  crime ?  'Woe  unto  him 
that  striveth  with  his  Maker.' — Is.  xlv.  9. 

God  deals  with  us  as  with  rational  creatures, 
offering  us  proofs  and  signs,  when  He  would  con- 
vince us  of  any  extraordinary  display  of  His  good 
will  towards  us  :  to  defeat  His  gracious  purpose  is 
the  object  of  the  evil  one,  and  to  help  this  oj^po- 
sition  in  such  a  way  as   not  only  to  frustrate  the 


LECTURE  V.  143 

grace  of  God  in  ourselves,  but  to  undermine  and 
destroy  the  faith  of  others,  is  a  sin  the  magnitude 
of  which  we  can  hardly  conceive ;  and  the  denun- 
ciation of  our  Lord  upon  those  who  commit  it, 
does  not  appear  to  us,  when  we  thus  reflect  upon 
it,  at  all  disproportionate  to  the  offence. 


LECTURE  VI, 


S.  MATTHEW  XII.  31,  32. 

All  manner  of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto 
men :  but  the  blasjohemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall 
not  be  forgiven  unto  men.  And  whosoever  speaketh  a 
word  against  the  Son  of  man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him  : 
but  luhosoever  speaketh  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it 
shall  not  be  forgiven  him,,  neither  in  this  world,  neither 
in  the  world  to  come. 

^HERE  are  and  have  been  always  persons 
-'-  who  undervalue  the  testimony  from  miracles  : 
and  some  who  endeavour  to  shew  there  can 
be  no  such  thing  as  a  miracle,  who  yet  profess 
belief  in  the  Christian  religion,  after  a  certain 
manner  of  their  own.  Of  course  such  a  belief  in 
Christianity  does  not  include  a  belief  in  the 
Scriptures  as  inspired  writings,  it  merely  re- 
gards them  as  the  productions  of  enthusiasts, 
recording  the  prevalent  opinions  of  their  day,  or 
wrapping  up  prejudices  in  a  garb  of  history,  or 
mistaking  allegories  or  figures  for  actual  historical 
events. 

One  plan  adopted  by  them  is  to  magnify  the 
moral  evidence  of  Christianity,  or  the  beauty  of 
Christian    morality ;    and    to    make    it    alone    a 


146  LECTURE  VI. 

convincing  proof  of  the  Divine  origin  of  the 
system,  to  exalt  it  above  the  external  evidence, 
and  thus  induce  men  to  undervalue  the  latter,  and 
make  them  less  anxious  about  maintaining  it. 

It  is  therefore  an  important  question,  on  which 
to  have  clear  and  definite  views,  whether  external 
evidence  precedes  or  follows  the  internal ;  and  in 
this  way  the  question  has  been  stated :  but  the 
inquiry  soon  made  it  evident  that  this  is  of  uncer- 
tain determination ;  it  requires  the  discussion  of 
another  question,  '  Must  not  the  character  of  the 
doctrine  be  examined  in  order  to  guard  against 
deception  ?'  We  find  warnings  such  as  these, 
That  false  prophets  may  arise ;  that  there  are 
agents  of  evil,  who  may  pretend  to  supernatural 
power,  working  signs  and  wonders,  which  might 
deceive  even  God's  chosen  ones;  and  that  we 
are  to  try  the  spirits,  whether  they  are  of  God, 
i.  e.  decide  on  the  doctrine  before  we  admit  the 
evidence  as  conclusive. 

On  the  other  hand,  how  can  we  know  that  a 
teacher  is  sent  from  God?  If  the  doctrine  is 
above  what  we  could  reach  by  unassisted  reason, 
how  can  our  reason,  uninfluenced  by  the  evidence 
of  miraculous  power,  admit  it  as  divine  ?  If  it  be 
beyond  what  we  know  of  God's  ways,  how  can  we 
be  judges  of  its  congruity  ?  And  again,  how  can 
the  majority  of  mankind  be  convinced,  as  they  are 
often  incapable  of  forming  correct  conclusions  on 
the  internal  evidence  of  the  divine  origin  of  Chris- 
tianity ? 


LECTURE  VI.  147 

Thus  it  must  be  an  important  practical  ques- 
tion, especially  in  arguing  with  the  heathen,  'What 
should  be  the  course  of  the  Christian  missionary, 
who  has  no  present  power  of  miracles  to  appeal  to  V 

When  our  Saviour  says,  '  If  ye  believe  not  me, 
believe  the  works,'  does  he  intimate  that  hispersonal 
character,  or  the  character  of  his  doctrine  ought  to 
have  produced  belief,  and  that  the  miracles  were 
only  a  secondary  proof  ?  This  must  be  answered 
from  a  review  of  the  general  method  of  his  teaching. 

When  He  warns  His  disciples  that  there  should 
be  false  Christs  who  should  arise,  or  when  S. 
Paul  tells  us  that  antichrist  should  have  the 
power  of  working  miracles  ;  does  this  shew  that 
signs  and  wonders  are  not  a  safe  proof  of  divine 
origin,  not  the  primary  evidence  on  which  we 
ought  to  rely  ?  This  must  be  answered  from  the 
way  in  which  Christ  himself  speaks  of  the  works 
which  He  did  in  confirmation  of  His  mission. 

Before  proceeding  to  these  questions,  we  may 
endeavour  to  set  aside  one  prejudice,  that  has  been 
entertained  against  the  external  evidence  of  Chris- 
tianity. We  ought  not  indeed  to  argue  for  the 
value  of  external  evidence,  as  if  it  were  itself 
Christianity:  though  such  evidence  may  awaken 
attention,  it  cannot  prevail  to  convince  absolutely 
the  minds  of  thoughtful  men^  unless  it  be  shewn 

^  In  tliis  sense  it  is  that  Archbishop  Laud  reasons  of  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  miracles  to  produce  saving  Faith,  or  absolute  conviction. 
See  Conference  with  Fisher,  §  16.  The  objections  which  SterUng 
made  {Essays^  Vol.  ii.  p.  121)  are  referred  to  here. 


148  LECTURE  VI. 

at  the  same  time  that  the  system  in  aid  of  which  it 
comes  is  a  spiritual  system  ;  that  it  relates  to 
man's  highest  interests,  i.  e.  to  his  relations  with 
the  Infinite  and  the  Spiritual.  It  is  not  right  to 
say  that  any  system  whatever,  attested  by  signs 
and  wonders,  must  command  men's  instant  sub- 
mission. It  is  here  that  the  power  of  the  Gospel 
as  a  moral  and  spiritual  system  makes  itself  felt. 
Let  the  attention  be  powerfully  arrested  by  the 
display  of  heaven-sent  power,  and  then  arises  the 
inquiry  as  to  the  substance  of  the  things  taught. 
And  as  it  is  in  subservience  of  the  spiritual  system 
of  Christianity  that  the  external  physical  signs 
have  been  wrought,  so  in  this  sense  ought  they 
to  be  made  secondary  ;  that  is,  they  cannot  be  of 
any  value  in  themselves,  as  distinguished  from  the 
doctrines  of  which  they  come  in  aid.  The  regene- 
ration of  man  is  the  great  object,  and  for  this  the 
internal  work  of  the  Spirit  is  necessary.  The  ex- 
ternal testimony  is  subordinate  in  quality,  though 
it  come  first  in  order  of  time,  to  that  internal 
testimony  which  really  works  the  transformation 
of  man. 

This  leads  us  back  to  a  proposition  which  has 
been  already  stated,  that  the  conviction  of  the 
understanding  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the 
subjugation  of  the  heart  and  affections.  The  diffi- 
culties raised  on  the  subject  are  generally  started 
by  philosophical  inquirers,  who  have  concluded 
too  hastily,  what  might  be  assumed  to  be  true  in 
the  case  of  the  conscientious  and  truth-seeking ; 


LECTURE  VI.  149 

viz.  that  when  the  judgment  is  convinced,  submis- 
sion of  the  will  must  necessarily  follow.  Now  the 
whole  history  of  the  first  propagation  of  Chris- 
tianity shews  that  this  is  not  the  case.  Men  ivere 
convinced  by  the  signs  wrought  by  the  Apostles 
and  apostolic  men,  that  Christianity  was  sent  from 
God,  and  were  admitted  to  the  brotherhood,  whose 
lives  and  tenets  have  subsequently  proved  that  the 
system  had  no  deep  hold  on  their  hearts  and  wills. 
The  external  evidence  was  sufficient  to  bring  them 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  Gospel ; 
and  this  was  a  necessary  step  towards  the  great 
object  which  it  was  intended  to  put  before  them, 
and  work  out  in  them  ;  but  they  have  then  resisted 
the  internal  influence  of  the  Spirit,  and  so  not  been 
the  subjects  of  the  further  work  of  conversion  of 
the  heart  to  God.  Such  men  were  considered 
afterwards  by  some  to  be  anomalies.  The  case 
was  argued  thus  :  the  object  of  Christ's  mission  was 
to  bring  men  into  a  spiritual  union  with  the  Deity, 
to  reconcile  man  to  his  Creator ;  and  here  this 
object  seems  to  have  failed  ;  then  it  was  rashly 
assumed  that  because  the  evidence  given  to  them 
did  not  lead  to  any  subjugation  of  the  will,  it 
must  therefore  be  useless.  The  early  apologists 
for  Christianity,  while  they  argued  against  the 
heathen  from  the  purity  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
self-denial  of  its  converts,  never  omit  to  dwell  with 
an  emphasis  and  a  confidence  which  now  stagger 
us,  on  the  supernatural  powders  which  they  exer- 
cised.   Every  one  is  acquainted  with  the  celebrated 


150  LECTURE  VI. 

passage  in  Tertullian's  Apology  S  where  he  chal- 
lenges the  proof  of  the  Divine  power  wielded  by 
Christians  of  expelling  evil  spirits,  and  extorting 
from  persons  possessed  with  familiar  spirits  a  con- 
fession of  the  evil  origin  of  the  influence.  Even 
those  who  hesitate  to  conclude  from  such  passages 
the  actual  enjoyment  of  the  privilege  laid  claim 
to,  will  not  at  any  rate  fail  to  notice  the  method 
used  in  arguing  with  the  heathen  ;  they  cannot 
fail  to  conclude  that  those  who  believe  in  the 
miraculous  events  recorded  in  the  gospel  will  be 
following  in  the  wake  of  their  predecessors  in  the 
faith  ;  if  they  should  now  argue  with  the  heathen 
in  like  manner,  and  urge  upon  them  the  fact  that 
God  did  attest  the  Gospel  to  be  from  him  by  signs 
and  wonders  ^  It  is  singular  to  notice,  that  in 
many  cases  there  is  little  difficulty  in  getting  oppo- 
nents to  admit  this,  for  example,  in  the  contro- 
versy with  the  Mahometans  ^  Tlie^j  will  readily 
agree  that  miracles  may  have  been  wrought,  but 

1  Apology,  c.  23.  See  Note  in  the  Oxford  Translation,  where 
reference  is  given  to  many  other  passages  of  the  early  Christian  writers 
aflSmiing  the  same  fact,  such  ns  Justin  Martyr,  Dial.c.  Tryph.  191  d. 
(Venice  Edition,  1747)  Apolog.  n.  §  6. 

2  An  instance  from  Justin  Martyr  will  be  sufficient  to  shew 
this.  Dial.  c.  Tryphone,  §  11  :  Ka«  en  twi/  epym>  Ka\  ck  t»/?  irapaKO- 
\ovOov<Tt}<i  twdf^ew:  avvtevai  iraat  Sui/aroi/  on  outo?  eartv^  (sc.  ']r](Tov<;) 
6  Kaii/o?  i/o'/io?,  Ka.\  t7  xaivt]  iiad^Ktj  kui  t]  TrpoahoK'ia  twi/  diro  irdvTwv 
Tuv  iOvuv  dvanevovTwu  -rd    -rrapd  toO   Qeod  dyaOd.      See  also   §   39 

and  §  69. 

3  See  Peiirose's  Treatise  on  the  Evidence  of  the  Scripture  Mi- 
rages; Archdeacon  Goddard^s  Bampton  Lectures  for  1823;  Marty  ti's 
Controversial  Tracts. 


LECTURE  VI.  151 

they  require  an  investigation  into  the  doctrine. 
Now  while  Christianity  lends  itself  freely  to  this 
doctrinal  inquiry,  that  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
neglect  the  previous  argument  from  external  evi- 
dence of  miracles,  because  in  a  particular  case  it 
has  but  little  weight.  If  we  neglect  this  testimony 
of  God's  favour,  we  may  hear  a  man  not  unreason- 
ably say :  '  If  the  Christian  religion  is  so  impor- 
tant— if  it  is  intended,  as  you  say,  to  embrace  all 
mankind, — and  its  precepts  and  doctrines  are  to 
have  such  a  world-wide  influence, — how  is  it  that 
the  Father  of  mankind  has  not  given  us  some  sign 
whereby  we  may  really  know  that  this  is  His  will 
and  His  work  V  S.  Paul  arguing  with  the  Athe- 
nians appealed  to  a  miraculous  event,  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ,  as  proving  that  we  should  have  to 
give  an  account  of  ourselves  at  God's  judgment- 
seat  ;  he  says  that  this  is  an  assurance  unto  all  men 
of  the  truth  which  he  preached  ^ 

If  instead  of  going  to  the  philosophical,  who  do 
not  represent  the  majority  of  mankind,  we  turn 
to  the  records  of  those  who  represent  a  more  numer- 
ous class,  we  shall  find  that  they  believe  because 
there  is  an  evidence,  to  them  satisfactory,  of  God's 
having  proved  the  Divine  origin  of  Christianity 
by  miraculous  interposition.     For  example,  in  the 

^  S.  Chrysostom,  Hom'il.  xxxii.  in  S.  Matt.,  giving  a  reason  for 
the  cessation  of  miracles,  is  arguing  with  Gentiles,  who  objected  to 
Christianity  that  it  was  not  confirmed  by  miracles  to  convince  them, 
or  with  the  people,  who  required  an  abundant  display  of  such  signs. 
In  either  case  it  shews  that  there  is  a  natural  craving  for  this  kind  of 
testimony. 

L2 


152  LECTURE  VI. 

24th  book  of  Dante's  ParadiseS  where  the  poet 
is  represented  as  conversing  with  S.  Peter,  the 
Apostle  asks  him  what  is  the  foundation  of  his  con- 
fidence ;  and  his  reply  is  that  he  w  as  certain  of  the 
faith,  because  so  many  great  works  were  wrought 
to  prove  it,  works  which  nature  could  not  pro- 
duce in  her  ordinary  operations  ;  and  when  further 
asked,  what  proof  he  had  that  these  miracles  were 
wrought,  he  replies  that  if  the  world  had  been 
Christianized  without  the  aid  of  miracles,  this  of 
itself  would  be  so  marvellous  a  thing,  that  all  the 
others,  if  multiplied  a  hundred  times,  would  not 
come  up  to  it 

There  may,  on  the  other  hand,  be  some  who 
have  dwelt  upon  the  spiritual  necessities  of  man- 
kind, and  the  character  of  God,  who  feel  the 
burden  of  sin,  and  the  impediments  which  this 
places  to  their  hopes  of  pleasing  Him,  and  obtain- 
ing the  wished  for  immortality.  To  such  the 
character  of  Christ  and  that  of  His  doctrine  come 

^  Dante,  II  Paradiso,  Canto  xxiv.  97 — 108,  quoted  by  Stilling- 
Jleet  in  the  Origines  Sacrct : — 

L'antica  e  la  novella 
Proposizione  clie  si  ti  conchiiide 
Perche  I'liai  tu  per  divina  favella? 
Ed  io  :  La  prova  clie  il  ver  mi  dischiude 
Son  I'opere  seguite,  a  clie  natura 
Non  9c.'»ldb  ferro  mai  ne  batte  ancude. 
Risposto  fummi :  Di',  cbi  t'  assicura 

Che  queir  opere  fosser  ?     Quel  medesmo 
Che  vuol  provarsi,  non  altri  il  ti  giura, 
Se  il  mondo  si  rivolse  al  cristianesmo 
Diss'io,  senza  niiracoli,  quest'  uno 
E  tal,  clie  gli  altri  non  sono  il  centesmo. 


LECTURE  VI.  153 

like  the  rain  upon  the  parched  fields,  or  the  dew 
on  the  scorched  pasture  ;  they  are  swayed  by  the 
exact  adaptation  of  the  Gospel  to  their  wants ;  the 
doctrines  of  pardon,  and  regeneration,  and  sanctifi- 
cation  come  to  thein  with  a  Divine  power ;  their 
congruity  with  the  yearnings  of  their  hearts  works 
in  them  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  spiritual 
message.  The  Holy  Ghost  strives  with  them  in- 
ternally and  directly ;  they  do  not  resist  his  striv- 
ings, they  yield  to  His  blessed  influence,  and 
believe  to  the  saving  of  their  souls.  It  is  not  a 
mere  barren  assent  which  they  make,  because 
compelled  by  strong  external  evidence.  They 
have  the  flood  of  Divine  light  poured  at  once  in 
large  measure  into  their  souls,  and  their  faith 
avails  to  cleanse  the  conscience.  It  is  the  answer 
of  a  good  conscience  towards  God. 

Faith  is  a  joint  act  of  the  will  and  the  under- 
standing\  but  it  need  not  be  perfect  in  both  its 
parts.  That  some  men's  understandings  are  con- 
vinced, and  yet  the  subjugation  of  the  will  does 
not  follow,  is  undoubtedly  a  moral  anomaly  :  the 
understanding  ought  to  influence  the  will,  but 
unfortunately,  in  the  fallen  state  of  man,  this  is 
not  the  case,  as  a  general  rule.  In  those  who 
yield  themselves  from  conviction  to  the  sway  of 
the  Gospel,  who  in  the  full  and  free  exercise  of  an 

^  Credere  est  Aetus  intellectus  determinati  ad  unum  ex  Imperio 
voluntatis. — -S".  Thomas,  2.  2.  q.  1.  A.  1.  c.  quoted  by  Archbishop 
Laud,  Conference  with  Fisher,  §  16.  ■Tri<jTiv...eKovaiov  t^c  \//u;^»7? 
av^KaTaQiciv. — Theodoret.  depanevT.  Sermo  I.  p.  479. 


154  LECTURE  VI. 

informed  understanding  become  the  servants  of 
Christ,  this  is  the  case.  But  how  few  are  these, 
compared  with  the  rest  of  mankind!  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  many  whose  wills  are  subdued  by 
the  Spirit's  internal  influence,  and  this  becomes  to 
them  a  motive  for  inclining  the  understanding \ 
This  is  more  common.  There  are  many  whose 
sole  reason  for  their  faith  is  that  they  feel  the 
truth  of  the  Gospel.  Somewhat  similar  is  the 
case  of  the  blind  man  whom  our  Lord  found  after 
the  questioning  of  the  Pharisees,  and  who  in 
answer  to  the  inquiry,  'Dost  thou  believe  in  the 
Son  of  God?'  replied,  'Who  is  He,  Lord,  that  I 
might  believe  on  him  V  His  will  was  pliant, — he  was 
ready,  disposed  towards  eternal  life  ^  and  so  easily 
gave  in  his  allegiance  to  the  Gospel.  Simon  Magus 
had  his  understanding  convinced,  while  his  heart 
was  unconverted. 

I  cannot  help  thinking  that  those  who  under- 
value the  external  evidence  of  miracles  do  so  very 
much  from  their  assigning  to  it  a  wrong  place. 
The  spiritual  power  of  the  Gospel  over  the  heart 
doubtless  does  not  work  by  signs  and  wonders. 
This  external  evidence  which  the  Holy  Ghost  gives, 
is  not  for  the  purifying  of  the  heart ;  but  for  the 
arresting  the  attention,  and  convincing  the  under- 
standing that  the  matter  is  from  God.    The  internal 

1  S.  Augiistm.  Sermo  xviii.  on  Ps.  118  :  Alia  sunt  qua)  nisi 
intelligamus,  non  crcdimus ;  et  alia  sunt  qure  nisi  credamus,  non  in- 
telliginius.  And  again  see  the  Enarratio  iti  Ps.  xxxv.  ad  i?iit.  on 
the  Power  of  the  Will  over  the  Understanding. 

2   TeTCiynevuf;  elt  (^wtiv  aluiviou.      Act.  Ap.  xiii.  48. 


LECTURE  VI.  155 

Striving  of  the  Spirit  must  subdue  men's  hearts 
and  consciences ;  and  saving  faith  is  rather  the 
result  of  this  latter  process  than  of  the  former. 
When  we  read  S.  James  arguing  of  the  useless- 
ness  of  faith  without  works,  he  is  of  course  merely 
arguing  of  this  effect  upon  the  understanding ;  he 
means  a  dry  and  barren  faith,  which  even  the 
devils  have.  Men  may  believe  that  Christianity 
is  a  Divine  scheme,  without  the  understanding 
influencing  the  conduct  in  any  rational  degree. 
They  sometimes  harden  their  hearts  against  the 
pleadings  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  they  would  not 
then  believe,  even  if  one  rose  from  the  dead  ;  i.  e. 
they  would  not  believe  to  any  purpose.  Their 
faith  would  be  a  bald  assent  to  certain  historical 
truths,  the  correctness  and  certainty  of  which 
their  judgments  admitted;  and  from  this  conclu- 
sion they  would  not  be  able  to  escape.  But  there 
is  a  wonderful  power  of  resistance  in  man,  by 
which  he  strives  against  the  conclusions  of  his  own 
judgment;  he  can  disregard  what  he  knows  to  be 
true,  and  what  he  knows  to  be  all  important;  and 
persons  in  whom  this  disposition  predominates 
are  extremely  hostile  to  the  Gospel  and  its  re- 
quirements. We  have  instances  in  which  our 
Lord  would  not  extend  the  evidence  which  was  in- 
tended to  produce  even  this  conviction,  because  the 
men  to  whom  he  was  preaching  were  hardened  and 
obstinate,  and  resisted  the  Holy  Ghost.  '  He  could 
not  do  many  mighty  works  there  because  of  their 
unbelief.'    Yet  his  ordinary  method  was  according 


156  LECTURE  VI. 

to  the  answer  to  John's  disciples  :  See  the  miracles, 
and  hear  me  preach  to  the  poor ;  and  the  marvel 
of  the  unbelief  of  the  people  is  ascribed  by  S. 
John  to  the  hardened  heart :  '  Though  he  had  done 
so  many  miracles,  yet  they  believed  not  on  him.' 

We  must  not  be  led  away  from  considering 
the  real  object  of  Christ's  miracles,  because  in 
contemplating  them  we  are  impressed  with  their 
uniform  benevolent  tendency.  Christ  went  about 
doing  good,  but  it  was  not  the  primary  object  of 
his  mission  to  minister  to  the  temporal  wants 
of  man,  to  relieve  sickness  and  poverty.  It  was 
to  re-establish  the  broken  covenant  between  God 
and  man,  to  restore  the  human  race  to  a  high 
spiritual  state,  to  repair  the  breaches,  and  build 
up  again  the  damaged  and  broken  pillars  of  the 
moral  Temple  of  God  ;  that  the  Most  High  might 
take  up  his  dwelling  in  the  chambers  of  man's 
heart,  and  the  whole  family  of  man  be  restored  to 
its  original  place  in  the  creation.  For  the  success 
of  such  high  objects,  besides  the  awful  mystery  of 
the  Atonement,  there  was  a  necessity  that  He 
should  tabernacle  amongst  us,  veil  the  Deity  in 
the  Incarnation,  and  invite  men  by  a  reasonable 
appeal  to  their  understandings  and  affections,  to 
recognize  the  Divine  message.  And  who  amongst 
us  is  not  at  once  prepared  to  say,  that  the  readiest 
way  to  call  the  attention  of  mankind,  is  by  the 
present  exercise  of  Divine  power  before  our  eyes, 
appealing  to  the  senses  God  has  given  us  for  the 
apprehension  of  all  external   Truth  ?     Who   does 


LECTURE  VI.  157 

not  immediately  recognize  the  force  of  the  Lord's 
appeal — 'The  works  bear  witness  of  me,  that  I 
am  sent  from  God ;'  and  this  with  the  greater  and 
more  overwhelming  cogency,  when  it  is  habitual  f 
Bring  hither  the  sick,  the  lame,  the  halt,  the  blind, 
and  I  will  heal  them.  '  Whithersoever  he  went,  into 
villages,  or  cities,  or  country,  they  laid  the  sick  in 
the  streets,  and  besought  him  that  they  might  but 
touch  the  border  of  his  garment ;  and  as  many  as 
touched  were  made  perfectly  whole.' 

If  miracles  are  not  the  most  powerful  of  per- 
suasives, if  any  other  method  could  have  had 
better  success  in  prevailing  with  the  multitude, 
and  convincing  them  that  Christ  was  a  messenger 
from  heaven',  we  ask.  What  is  it?  Would  not 
Christ  have  employed  it,  if  there  were  a  stronger 
or  a  more  palpable  proof?  and  that  he  urged  it  as 
the  proof  we  have  His  own  direct  assertion  ;  'If  ye 
believe  not  me,  believe  the  works,'  must  be  taken 
in  connexion  with  another  place,  where  he  says, 
'  If  I  bear  witness  of  myself,  my  witness  is  not 
true  :  my  Father  beareth  witness  of  me  :'  and  if  we 
again  ask,  How?  '  Because  I  do  the  works  which 
none  other  man  did.  The  works  which  the  Father 
hath  given  me  to  finish,  the  same  works  that  I  do, 
bear  witness  of  me,  that  the  Father  hath  sent  me.' 
When  they  asked  him,  '  If  thou  be  the  Christ,  tell 
us  plainly,'  Jesus  answered,  '  I  told  you,  and  ye 
believed  not ;  the  works  that  I  do  in  my  Father's 
name,  they  bear  witness  of  me.     If  I  do  not  the 

^  See  Penrose  on  Miracles,  c  iv. 


158  LECTURE  VI. 

works  of  my  Father,  believe  me  not.  The  Father 
that  dwell eth  in  me,  he  doeth  the  works.'  '  Believe 
me  for  the  very  works'  sake.' 

From  consideration  of  this  argument  of  our 
Lord,  we  conclude  that  he  allow^ed  that  the  objec- 
tion made  by  the  Pharisees  to  his  pretensions 
would  have  been  valid,  if  he  had  not  had  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Father,  as  well  as  his  own.  As  he 
here  meant  and  was  understood  to  be  appealing 
to  a  testimony  given  him  by  God  ;  what  can  we 
suppose  it  to  mean,  but  an  exercise  of  Divine 
power,  a  power  which  the  Creator  alone  possessed 
over  creation  ?  The  true  order  of  the  evidence 
appears  to  be  as  follows :  the  miracles  proved  that 
the  person  w  ho  performed  them  had  Divine  power  : 
Christ  therefore  was  a  teacher  from  God,  and 
therefore  His  teaching  was  true:  hence  His  testi- 
mony concerning  Himself  was  to  be  received,  be- 
cause it  was  supported  by  testimony  from  God, 
and  He  affirmed  Himself  to  be  the  Messiah. 

The  miracles  were  wrought  in  proof  of  the 
doctrine,  for  Christ  did  not  shew  forth  this  Divine 
power  till  He  entered  upon  his  ministry,  and  his 
office  of  preaching.  After  that  consider  how  large 
a  portion  of  the  record  is  taken  up  with  the 
history  of  the  miracles.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say, 
that  nearly  one  half  of  the  Gospels  is  a  history  of 
Divine  interposition  in  miracles  of  various  kinds. 

It  was  this  display  of  power  that  convinced 
Nicodemus ;  '  We  know  that  thou  art  a  teacher  sent 
from  God ;  for  no  man  can  do  the  miracles  that  thou 


LECTURE  VI.  159 

doest,  except  God  be  with  him.'  It  was  the  miracle 
at  Cana  which  first  induced  belief  in  his  disciples 
(S.John  ii.  11),  because  by  it  he  'manifested  forth 
his  glory,'  that  is  to  say,  their  belief  in  him  began 
to  be  of  a  higher  kind  ;  their  previous  discipleship 
must  have  been  similar  in  some  respect  to  that  of 
John's  disciples,  '  who  did  no  miracle,'  but  gained 
a  considerable  school  (if  we  may  so  speak)  by  his 
preaching.  As  the  Evangelist  marks  so  strongly 
the  effect  of  the  first  miracle,  he  must  intimate 
that  their  previous  belief  in  Christ  was  of  a  much 
lower  kind  than  that  which  was  then  wrought; 
even  though  it  was  not  yet  that  faith  in  Christ 
as  the  Son  of  God  which  S.  Peter  in  the  name  of 
himself  and  his  colleagues  confessed  so  nobly  on 
a  subsequent  occasion.  We  know,  as  a  fact,  that 
the  doctrine  at  one  time  drove  away  many  of  his 
disciples  (S.  John  vi.  QQ)'^  and  those  that  remained 
seem  to  intimate  that,  hard  and  diflScult  as  the 
saying  was,  they  remained  faithful  in  spite  of  it, 
for  some  other  reason  which  held  them  bound  to 
Him:  '  Lord,  to  whom  should  we  go?'  The  form  of 
the  narrative  when  the  Evangelist  writes,  '  Though 
he  did  so  many  miracles,  yet  they  believed  not  on 
himS'  implies  that  they  ought  to  have  believed  in 
consequence  of  the  number  of  these  works ;  and 
therefore  that  with  the  multitude,  it  was  the 
awakening  evidence  which  first  should  turn  them 
to  listen  to  the  words  of  Eternal  Life ;  in  the  hope 

John  xii.  37  •'  rco-auTa  Ce  avruv  (rtjjjie'ia  TreirottjKOTO';  t/Jiirpoa-dev 
avrwv,  ovK  e-jria-Tevov  eU  avTov, 


160  LECTURE  VI. 

that  afterwards  the  word  might  influence  their 
affections  and  incline  their  wills  permanently  and 
effectually  \ 

We  next  proceed  to  notice  the  objection  which 
is  made  from  the  fact  that  Christ  himself  and  the 
Apostles  foretold  that  there  should  be  signs  and 
wonders  wrought  by  false  Christs,  and  which 
might  deceive  even  the  elect  2.  If  there  can  be 
miracles  wrought  by  the  agents  of  evil  and  of  error, 
how  can  these  be  safe  testimonies  to  the  truth  of 
one  who  professes  himself  sent  from  God? 

This  was  the  argument  of  Celsus  the  Epicurean. 
He  puts  forth  with  great  confidence  this  objection 
to  miraculous  evidence — that  Christ  should  have 
foretold  that  others  would  come  and  do  miracles, 
to  which  they  must  give  no  heed.  He  thence  infers 
that  miracles  have  no  special  Divine  power  in 
them.  Is  it  not,  says  he,  a  wretched  thing  that 
from  the  same  works  one  should  be  accounted  a 
God,  and  others  deceivers^? 

'  S.  Paul  ad  Romanos,  xv.  18,  says  that  the  Gentiles  were  made 
obedient,  \ojia  kui  epyia  ev  cwafxei  a^^||^£tu}u  kui  TefjtiTwv,  ev  Zvvafxei 
Ylvevixaro^  dylov. 

S.  Augustine,  de  Catechizandis  Rudihus,  §  45  :  Quemadmodum 
primi  Cliristiani  quia  nondum  ista  (sc.  prtedicta)  provenisse  videbant, 
niiraculis  movcbantur  ut  crederent ;  sic  nos  &c.  He  here  compares  the 
conviction  produced  in  his  day  with  that  which  was  wrought  in  the 
beginning  of  Christianity,  and  assumes  that  the  first  Christians  were 
Jirst  induced  to  belief  by  miracles. 

2  See  this  question  argued  at  considerable  length  by  ]\Ir  Penrose, 
Treatise  on  Scripture  Miracles,  c.  v. 

3  Orijencs  c  Celsum^  Lib.  ii.  p.  89  {Spencer's  Edition) :  ttw?  ovv 
ov   (TYeTAioi/,   aiTo   tiov  avTtov  epyoDv   tov  ftev,  Geoi/,   tou?   Oe,  yotjTa^ 


LECTURE  VI.  161 

To  this  Origen  replies,  Our  Saviour  did  not  in 
these  words  bid  men  beware  in  general  of  such  as 
did  miracles,  but  of  those  only  who  might  announce 
themselves  as  anointed  of  God,  and  who  should 
endeavour  by  some  appearances  {^kxtivwv  (pavraaiwi') 
to  convert  the  disciples  of  Jesus  ;  and  he  also 
argues,  that  since  false  Christs  pretended  to  be 
Christ  because  they  worked  miracles,  it  shews  that 
the  power  of  working  miracles  was  generally  taken 
to  be  conclusive  as  an  evidence  of  Divine  power  \ 

If  there  be  deceptions,  there  must  be  true 
miracles  also.  If  there  be  sophisms,  there  must 
also  be  legitimate  arguments  ;  what  must  be  done 
in  such  cases,  is  strictly  and  severely  to  examine 
the  pretenders,  their  life  and  manners,  their  effects 
and  consequences,  whether  they  do  good  or  hurt 

tjyeT(T0at  • — tI  jap  fxaWov  utto  je  rovToav,  tov<!  aWov^  irovtjpov^^  rf 
TouTov  vojjiKTTeov^  ttVTw  yowixevow  fxapTvpi ;  Tavra  fxev  ye  nai  avTo^ 
ufxo\6yt](Tev  ov-^i  6e'ia<;  (^Jo-ew?,  a\\  a-Karewvosv  tivmv  kui  ■jrafxirovripuiv 
eivat  yvwp'icrfxaTa. 

"Opa  S»7  el/x»7ci/  toutoic  o  KeAcro?  (racpw^  eXeyy^erai  KaKovpydav  rov 
\6yov'  aWo  fxev  tov  Irjcrov  XeyovTO^  irepi  tmv  iroirjcravTWv  atjueTa  kui 
Tf  oaxa,  dWo  Ze  tov  Trapa  tm  KeAcrft)  iovoaiov  tpacfKovTO^'  Kai  yap  cl  fnev 
d'rr\w<;  to7<;  iJ.a6r]ra?<;  eXeyev  'Irjo-ou?  (pvXda-a-ecrOat  tou<?  rd  TCpdaTta 
(?)  eTrayyeWonevov^,  ov  nrapaTiQefxevo'^  t'i  (prjarovcriv  €avTOv<;  eiuat, 
raya  "ycipav  elyev  dv  tj  vTrovota  avTov  '  crrei  o  a<p  dv  veXei  (pvXa<T<Te&- 
0ai  t]iJ.d<:  6  'Irjaovi,  i-rrayyeXXovrai  elvai  6  Xpio-TO?  oirep  ov  iroiovcriv 
o'l  y6r]T€<;^  dXXd  Ka)  ev  tw  ovofxaTi  'I>7<rou  (3iovvTa<;  kokw?  <pr](ri  Tiva^ 
Si/i/a'juei?  Trotti<Teiv^  Ka\  Sai/aoi/a?  diroftdXXeiv  dvOpwirvav, 

^  lb.  lib.  ii.  p.  90  :  Kai  tovto  he  hoKeT  fxoi  ctt)  irdvTwv  wa-re  heiv 
irapaTidevai  on  owov  ti  -^eTpou  trpoa-Koiovnevov  eivai  ofxayeve^  tw 
KpeiTTOvi  tKC?  Tra'i/Twc  ck  tov  evavTiov  e<TTi  ti  KpeiTTOv'  ovtw  kui  eiri 
Tuv  Kara  yoriTe'iav  eTTiTeXovvTwv,  on  irdpTw;  dvdyKt]  elvai  Ka\  utto  6€ia<; 

evepyeia'!  iv  tw  f3iif  yevofxeva^  &c.     See  also  p.  91,  Spencer's  Edition. 


162  LECTURE    VI. 

in  the  world,  whether  they  correct  men's  manners, 
and  bring  men  to  goodness,  holiness,  and  truth. 
On  this  account  we  are  neither  to  reject  all  mi- 
racles, nor  embrace  all  pretences,  but  carefully 
and  prudently  examine  the  rational  evidences 
whereby  those  which  are  true  and  Divine  may  be 
known  from  such  as  are  counterfeit  and  diabolical. 
The  argument,  when  reiterated  by  modern  ob- 
jectors, has  been  answered  by  shewing  clearly 
what  criteria  are  reasonable  or  necessary  to  be 
observed  in  distinguishing  pretended  miracles  or 
false  signs  from  true.  The  chief  of  these  is  the 
congruity  of  the  doctrine  in  support  of  which  mi- 
racles are  wrought,  with  that  which  has  been 
supported  and  evidenced  in  the  same  way.  No 
miracle  can  be  admitted  as  a  proof  of  Divine 
Authority,  if  it  be  wrought  in  contradiction  of  any 
tenet  which  is  already  agreed  to  proceed  from 
Divine  Authority  ^  This  is  already  provided  for 
under  the  Mosaic  law.  '  If  there  arise  among  you 
a  prophet,  or  a  dreamer  of  dreams,  and  giveth 
thee  a  sign  or  a  wonder,  and  the  sign  or  the 
wonder  come  to  pass  whereof  he  spake  unto  thee, 
saying.  Let  us  go  after  other  gods,  which  thou 
hast  not  known,  and  let  us  serve  them  ;  thou  shalt 
not  hearken  unto  that  prophet  or  dreamer  of 
dreams.'  The  false  prophet  was  to  be  put  to  death, 
because  he  spoke  to  turn  them  away  from  the 
Lord,  i.e.  the  pretensions  of  the  prophet  were  to 

^  See  Le  Bas,  '  Considerations  on  Miracles,'  p.  45. 


LECTURE  VI.  163 

be  tried  by  his  doctrine.  S.  John  gives  the  same 
rule  for  trying  the  spirits,  when  he  says  that  every 
spirit  which  is  from  God  must  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh. 

In  this  there  is  nothing  at  all  contrary  to  what 
we  have  said  before ;  for  in  either  case  of  true  or 
false  miracles,  they  serve  to  arrest  the  attention 
in  the  first  instance,  when  considered  and  found  to 
be  clear  of  all  suspicion  and  doubt :  they  incline 
the  understanding,  if  found  to  be  wanting  in  those 
fair  and  clear  characteristics  which  an  honest 
truth-seeking  mind  would  apply  :  they  cease  to 
have  any  effect,  and  are  easily,  as  is  the  case  now 
with  respect  to  pretended  popish  miracles,  disre- 
garded. 

Few  persons  except  those  whose  tendencies  are 
already  towards  the  Roman  Communion,  ever  pay 
more  than  a  mere  passing  attention  to  the  foolish 
stories  of  miracles  circulated  in  modern  times. 
The  nature  of  these  pretended  wonders,  and  the 
vain  fables  they  are  brought  forward  to  support, 
both  together  convince  us  that  there  is  no  need 
to  give  any  attention  to  them. 

It  is  better,  in  speaking  on  a  subject  of  this 
kind,  to  take  a  practical  case,  than  to  endeavour 
to  make  a  subtle  scientific  distinction  ;  for  it  would 
be  hard  to  do  this  in  such  a  way  as  to  obviate  all 
objections.  The  more  useful  way  is  to  point  out 
the  emptiness  of  the  cavil,  and  how  completely 
uninfluential  it  is,  when  the  case  is  one  of  actual 
occurrence.     Such  a  method  will  at  once  shew  us 


164  LECTURE  VI, 

that  there  is  more  subtlety  than  substance  in  the 
dilemma  to  wiiich  opponents  would  reduce  us. 

With  respect  to  the  Christian  religion  as  a 
whole,  the  difficulty  is  purely  theoretical ;  for  there 
is  not  a  single  vestige  of  a  case  to  be  put  in 
comparison  with  the  multitudinous  signs,  and  the 
perpetual  wonderful  exercise  of  power,  which 
marked  our  Saviour's  life  on  earth. 

But  it  should  be  clearly  stated  that  the  dis- 
tinction drawn  between  external  and  internal  evi- 
dence of  Christianity,  is  not  one  which  can  be 
maintained  absolutely.  Neither  is  one  without 
the  other.  The  external  evidence  calls  men  to 
hear.  It  is  the  awakening  call  of  God  to  all  his 
creatures.  'A  great  multitude  followed  him,  be- 
cause they  saw  the  miracles  which  he  did  on  them 
that  were  diseased.'  (S.  John  vi.  2.)  Those  who 
heard  his  preaching,  as  from  one  who  spake  as 
never  man  spake,  and  one  who  had  authority, 
probably  believed  that  Christ  was  a  prophet  sent 
from  God.  Others  hardened  themselves  against 
Him,  and  imputed  his  miracles  to  the  Spirit  of 
evil. 

The  former  when  they  heard  our  Saviour  pro- 
claim the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom,  if  their  hearts 
were  not  hardened,  believed  in  Him  more  firmly, 
and  became  more  than  mere  nominal  disciples  ; 
but  if  they  were  lovers  of  the  honour  that  cometh 
from  men  more  than  of  that  which  cometh  from 
God  only,  even  though  their  consciences  warned 
them  that  Christ  was  a  Divine  messenger,  would 


LECTURE  VI.  ^65 

not  confess  Him,  even  though  they  believed  (S. 
John  xii.  42).  They  had  convictions  which  they 
were  afraid  to  avow  openly  (S.  John  vii.  13,  ix.  22). 

But  those  who  not  only  rejected  Christ's  words, 
but  maligned  and  traduced  his  great  works,  these 
men  are  said  to  commit  the  sin  against  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Now  what  was  the  difference  between 
these  last  and  those  who,  while  touched,  yet  would 
not  confess — but  this?  The  Pharisees  rejected 
Christianity  and  its  external  evidence  ;  the  others 
through  infirmity  and  love  of  the  world  rejected 
Christianity,  but  admitted  the  force  of  its  evidence. 
And  hence  we  conclude  that  the  rejection  of  the 
external  evidence  in  wonders  and  signs,  the  gifts  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  resolute  setting  oneself 
against  the  proofs  that  God  himself,  through  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  offered  to  man,  of  His 
interference  on  their  behalf,  constitutes  the  sin  of 
which  especially  it  is  said  that  there  cannot  be 
forgiveness. 

Let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that  the  internal 
evidence  was  that  which  is  intended  to  produce 
conviction.  A  teacher  of  morality  who  had  great 
powers  of  persuasion,  and  whose  life  corresponded 
to  his  doctrine,  would  no  doubt  have  considerable 
success  so  long  as  that  doctrine  involved  no 
novelty ;  and  by  adapting  his  teaching  to  the 
different  classes  which  might  come  within  his 
reach,  he  might  gain  many  of  all  ranks  to  listen 
to  him  and  receive  him.  But  he  must  not  bring 
forward  any  new  doctrine ;   his  message  must  not 

H.  L.  M 


166  LECTURE  VI. 

clash  with  the  received  religious  convictions  of 
his  hearers  ;  he  must  only  urge  upon  them  the  wit- 
ness which  they  already  have,  with  greater  power 
and  energy.  Repentance  and  reformation  may 
certainly  be  promoted  by  a  proclamation  of  their 
necessity,  and  a  skilful  dissection  of  the  false  ex- 
cuses which  men  make  to  themselves  for  neglect 
of  duty. 

Such  was  the  case  with  John  the  Baptist,  who 
without  miraculous  power  attracted  Jerusalem  and 
all  Judea  and  all  the  region  round  about  to  hear 
him  ;  and  they  were  baptized  of  him  in  Jordan, 
confessing  their  sins.  Pharisees  and  Sadducees, 
publicans  and  soldiers,  the  most  unlikely  of  man- 
kind to  be  moved  to  repentance  and  self-condem- 
nation, were  all  under  the  influence  of  the  preacher 
in  the  wilderness  : — but  John  proclaimed  no  new 
doctrine.  His  light  was  the  last  bright  lamp  that 
shone  on  the  letters  of  the  elder  covenant.  He 
took  up  the  last  warnings  of  Malachi  his  prede- 
cessor, and  no  prejudices  had  to  be  combated. 
He  preached  to  them  what  they  acknowledged 
already,  although  they  disobeyed  it.  He  only  pre- 
pared a  highway  for  one  mightier  than  himself, 
and  was  to  wane  and  to  decrease,  as  the  Lamb  of 
God  came  forth  with  the  announcement  of  glad 
tidings,  and  salvation  through  the  new  and  living 
way  consecrated  by  Himself.  John  was  a  burning 
and  a  shining  light,  and  they  who  hesitated  to  re- 
ceive Christ  were  willing  for  a  season  to  rejoice 
in  his  light ;  but  Christ  came  Himself,  '  that  they 


LECTURE  VI.  167 

might  liave  life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more 
abundantly'  (S.  John  x.  10).  John  the  Baptist 
did  not  proclaim  that  the  time  was  coming  when 
men  should  not  be  bound  to  worship  at  Jerusalem, 
but  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  It  was  this  that 
shocked  the  hearers  ;  they  could  not  listen  with 
patience  to  one  who  came  to  proclaim  the  fulfil- 
ment of  their  law,  and  its  consequent  displacement 
for  the  establishment  of  a  new  polity  extending 
to  all  mankind.  We  cannot  help  noticing  the  very 
different  effect  which  must  have  been  produced 
upon  the  people  by  such  announcements  as  these  : 
'  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said  by  them  of 
old  time — but  I  say  unto  you.'  A  people  jealous  of 
their  religion  and  exclusive  privileges  would  now 
be  shocked  ;  and  what  could  reassure  them,  but 
some  evident  token  of  the  Divine  support  to  the 
messenger,  who,  while  he  brought  such  strange 
doctrines,  yet  appealed  to  the  Jewish  Scriptures, 
as  testifying  of  Himself?  If  Christ  had  merely 
been  a  preacher  of  morality,  enforcing  lessons  which 
have  their  germ  in  every  man's  heart,  and  had  had 
no  great  doctrines  of  sublime  and  mysterious  im- 
port to  declare,  the  example  of  John  the  Baptist 
shews  that  he  would  have  met  with  a  more  favour- 
able reception  ;  but  his  new  announcements  moved 
them  with  indignation,  zeal,  and  vehement  opposi- 
tion. '  For  a  good  work  we  stone  thee  not,  btit  for 
blasphemy,  and  because  that  thou,  being  a  man, 
makest  thyself  God.'  How  could  such  pretensions, 
again  we  say  it,  be  maintained,  but  by  a  present 


168  LECTURE  VI. 

evident  exercise  of  Divine  power,  to  shew  tliat  God 
had  set  his  seal  to  the  testimony  delivered,  strange, 
incomprehensible,  bewildering  though  it  were  ? 

Though  the  pure  morality  of  the  Christian 
doctrine  might  weigh  with  some,  as  we  have 
already  observed,  yet  this  could  not  be  the  case 
wdth  the  multitude ;  for  such  evidence  can  only 
be  appreciated  by  those  who  are  thoughtful ;  and 
the  personal  character  of  Christ,  supremely  in- 
fluential as  it  undoubtedly  is  in  confirming  the 
faith  of  Christians,  could  at  first  only  have  in- 
fluenced those  who  were  our  Lord's  intimate 
friends  and  adherents. 

If  the  evidence  had  been  confined  to  these 
points,  the  majority  of  mankind  would  have  been 
left  alone,  and  never  have  been  reclaimed  from  the 
congregation  of  the  dead,  after  they  had  wandered 
out  of  the  way  of  understanding. 

And  there  is  another  remark  we  think  worthy 
of  notice  ;  that  those  who  contend  for  the  validity 
and  necessity  of  miraculous  evidence  in  the  first 
instance,  do  not  insist  upon  its  necessity  for  pro- 
ducing general  conviction  at  the  present  day  among 
our  own  people;  although,  as  we  think,  they  do 
justly  plead  for  the  necessity  of  there  being  a  faith- 
ful record  of  such  interposition  in  time  of  old.  It 
is  argued  that  such  testimony  was  necessary  at  the 
time,  and  under  the  circumstances  of  the  hearers 
when  the  Gospel  was  preached;  but  now  in  all  civi- 
lized countries  the  establishment  of  Christianity, 
and    its  general   prevalence,  secure   it  a  hearing 


LECTURE  VI.  169 

already.  It  is  not  therefore  necessary  that  the  first 
arresting  of  the  attention  should  be  secured  in  any 
strange,  new  and  startling  way.  If  new  sects  arise 
in  our  day  we  do  not  care  even  to  give  a  hearing 
to  their  preachers  or  heralds  ;  but  if  these  people 
pretended  to  miraculous  power,  exercised  constantly 
in  the  face  of  their  opponents,  we  should  feel  that 
there  must  besomethingdemanding  of  rational  men 
investigation  and  attention.  This  is  the  case  with 
which  we  ought  to  compare  the  first  rise  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  we  see  how  large  a  difference  there  is 
between  it  and  the  case  as  we  are  familiar  with 
it.  If,  as  now,  Christianity  gains  the  attention  of 
the  multitude  from  many  other  circumstances  be- 
sides its  pretensions  to  the  support  of  miraculous 
powers,  this  should  not  induce  us  to  think  that 
internal  proofs  are  all-sufficient  without  the  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  wonders  and  signs.  All  we 
can  conclude  is,  that  the  effect  already  produced 
on  the  world  by  the  success  and  spread  of  the 
Gospel,  is  sufficient  to  convince  the  multitude  that 
Divine  power  produced  and  promoted  that  success 
and  universality. 

In  what  has  been  said  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  set  aside  the  prejudice  raised  against 
miraculous  evidence,  by  exalting  the  internal  evi- 
dence of  Christianity,  and  to  state  clearly  the 
separate  and  joint  influence  of  each. 

In  conclusion,  for  the  application  of  the  warn- 
ing of  the  unpardonable  sin  to  the  Church  in  our 
days,    we    have   only   to    notice    that   those    who 


170  LECTURE  VI. 

reject  the  supernatural  evidence  which  has  been 
given  by  the  Holy  Ghost  for  the  establishment 
of  the  Faith,  generally  do  so,  because  they  re- 
ject the  supernatural  doctrines  which  Christianity 
teaches.  Viewing  Christianity  as  a  system  of  ex- 
alted morality  only,  which  might  have  been  taught 
by  any  highly  gifted  man,  and  refusing  to  recog- 
nize in  it  '  Mysteries  of  Faith,'  such  as  the  atone- 
ment and  sacramental  grace,  they  consistently 
enough  persuade  themselves  that  there  was  no 
need  of  any  supernatural  external  signs  to  aid  the 
promotion  of  a  sublime  philosophy — a  republished 
Natural  Religion.  Arguing  of  Christianity  as  one 
of  God's  many  ways  with  men,  and  not  as  The 
way.  The  system,  The  great  end  of  the  existence 
of  mankind,  they  are  averse  to  admit  that  there  is 
in  its  essence  or  in  its  credentials  anything  which 
stamps  it  with  these  characteristics  of  singularity. 
The  depths  and  heights  of  God's  counsels  declared 
to  man  in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  they  explain 
away  into  vague  generalities  or  enthusiastic  ex- 
pressions. They  level  the  everlasting  hills,  extract 
all  their  profundity  from  the  deep  things  of  God, 
and  then  cannot  admit  any  necessity  for  His  in- 
terference with  the  laws  of  nature — for  his  permis- 
sion of  discontinuity  in  tiie  chain  connecting 
effects  with  their  ordinary  causes.  If  the  Phari- 
sees attributed  the  works  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
the  Spirit  of  Evil,  the  men  of  whom  we  speak 
destroy  the  evidence  of  these  works  by  denying 
their  existence,  or  falsifying  their  character  ;  they 


LECTURE  VI.  171 

charge  the  Word  of  God,  in  which  these  things 
are  recorded  for  us  by  men  inspired  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  with  error  and  untruth ;  and  so  this  be- 
comes a  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  of  much  the 
same  kind.  It  is  attributing  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  the  Father  of  lies.  If  the  credit  of  the 
Scriptures  is  assailed,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the 
difficulties  of  miracle  and  prophecy,  it  seems  that 
this  is  done  in  the  same  spirit  of  determined  oppo- 
sition and  unbelief  which  the  Pharisees  exhibited. 
They  rejected  the  proofs  which  our  Lord  gave 
of  His  divine  authority,  and  charged  Him  with 
being  in  league  with  God's  enemy ;  and  now  those 
who  reject  the  same  proofs,  the  record  of  which 
is  secured  to  us  by  the  same  Spirit,  asserting 
that  these  records  are  untrustworthy — deceitful — 
are  surely  sinners  in  the  same  sense. 

Let  it  not  be  said  that  as  they  admit  the  prac- 
tical parts  of  the  system,  therefore  they  are  not  to 
be  judged  so  harshly.  Did  not  the  Pharisees 
admit  the  Divine  Laws  of  morality?  Did  they 
not  do  battle,  as  they  pretended,  for  the  honour  of 
God,  understood  in  their  own  sense?  Did  they 
not  recognize  Natural  Religion?  Did  they  not 
profess  a  zeal  for  God  ?  '  Give  God  the  praise  ; 
we  know  that  this  man  is  a  sinner.'  Though  men 
may  now  be  very  zealous  for  the  laws  of  natural 
morality;  yet  if  they  reject  the  peculiar  doctrines 
of  Christianity  because  they  are  abnormal,  and 
the  peculiar  proofs  of  those  doctrines  because  they 
are  miraculous,  what  right  have  we  to  say  that 


172  LECTURE  VI. 

their  sin  is  venial,  or  to  assume  that  a  man's  faith 
in  these  things  is  non-essential  ? 

God's  Word  is  a  light  unto  our  path,  and  a 
lantern  unto  our  feet.  Its  doctrines,  on  which  acts 
of  faith  are  dependent,  wonderful  and  mysterious 
— high  as  heaven,  deep  as  ocean — are  the  very 
sinews  and  marrow  of  the  whole  system.  And  to 
deprive  Religion  of  these,  is  to  tear  away  its  flesh 
and  substance,  and  present  us  with  a  skeleton 
instead  of  life.  I  should  therefore  fear  when  I 
read  the  words  of  our  Lord's  denunciation  on  the 
Pharisees,  "  Whosoever  shall  speak  against  the 
Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him,"  that 
if  we  dare  to  diminish  in  any  way  the  wonderful 
works  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  as  miracles  and 
gifts  were  wrought  in  confirmation  of  the  Faith ; 
if  in  any  degree  we  slight  their  testimony,  and 
teach  men  so,  we  may  now  incur  the  same  awful 
penalty  ;  because  the  sin  of  the  Pharisees  consisted 
in  rejection  of  the  wonderful  works  which  the 
Spirit  wrought,  and  in  refusing  to  acknowledge 
them  as  God's. 

From  such  contempt  of  thy  Word  and  Com- 
mandment, good  Lord,  deliver  us  for  Jesus  Christ's 
sake.     Amen. 


LECTURE    VII 


HEBREWS  II.  10. 

It  became  him,  for  ivhom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are 
all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,  to  make 
the  Captain  of  their  salvation  perfect  through  sif- 
fei'ings. 

THERE  are  many  portions  of  Holy  Scripture 
which  speak  of  the  exaltation  of  Christ  to  the 
right  hand  of  God,  as  a  consequence  of  his  humi- 
liation and  suffering,  such  as,  'He  became  obedient 
unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  Cross ;  therefore 
God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him.'  This  is 
generally  explained  of  Christ's  human  nature, 
since  in  His  divine  nature  he  could  not  receive 
exaltation;  and  as  connected  with  the  great  object 
of  Christ's  mission,  the  regeneration  and  restoration 
of  human  nature  to  the  highest  place  in  God's 
favour,  this  doctrine  is  generally  intelligible,  and 
received  by  the  majority  of  Christendom.  There 
remains  however  some  difficulty  in  those  texts 
which  speak  of  Christ  being  made  perfect  by 
suffering,  because,  as  He  was  without  sin,  as 
man,  it  may  be  asked  in  what  does  this  making 
perfect  consist?  *  He  did  no  sin,  neither  wag  guile 
found  in  his  mouth,'  saith  S.  Peter  (i.  2,  22), 
according  to  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  (liii.  9).  He 
himself  affirmed   that  He  did  always  that  which 


174  LECTURE  vir. 

was  pleasing  to  the  Father  (John  viii.  29),  and  he 
challenged  his  opponents  to  convince  Him  of  sin 
(S.  John  viii.  46).  S.  Paul  affirms  of  him  that  He 
knew  no  sin  (2  Cor.  v.  21),  and  that  though  in 
all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin 
(Heb.  iv.  15).  It  may  then  be  asked,  how  can  one 
already  perfect  be  said  to  he  made  perfect  through 
suffering,  as  though  he  had  imperfection?  Thus 
in  the  text  it  is  said,  '  It  was  fitting  that  the 
Captain  of  our  salvation  should  be  made  perfect 
through  suffering;'  and  again,  'Though  he  was 
a  Son  {vlos  wv),  yet  learned  He  obedience  by  the 
things  which  he  suffered  ;  and  being  made  perfect 
He  became  the  Author  of  salvation  unto  all  them 
that  obey  him.' 

The  answer  to  this  enquiry  must  be  made  from 
a  consideration  of  the. use  of  the  word  'to  make 
perfect.'  In  one  sense  it  imports  progress  towards 
a  higher  state,  in  another,  the  completion  of  a 
particular  character  or  office  to  be  fulfilled \     In 

1  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  LXX.  use  of  the  word  TeAeio'w  is 
consecrare,  and  Mede  has  argued  strongly  for  that  sense  in  this 
passage;  but  as  this  sense  cannot  be  universally  assigned  to  the 
word  in  the  New  Testament,  I  have  preferred  adhering  to  the  more 
general  signification.  Erasmus,  Schmid,  Bcza,  Schcetgcn,  take  it  in 
the  same  sense  as  Mede.  Scilicet,  says  Wolfius,  Cures  Philolog. 
Vol.  IV.  p.  621,  Sacerdotes  Veteris  Testamenti  per  mortem  et 
victimas  animalium,  Christus  vero  per  mortem  et  victimam  sui 
corporis  inauguratus  est.  Interim  cum  Christus  ctiam  ante  mortem 
sacerdotio  illo  functus  sit  pro  hominibus,  variis  perpcssionibus 
exantlatis,  adeoque  huic  officio  inauguratus  censeri  debeat,  non 
video  quomodo  inauguratio  ilia  simpliciter  ad  mortem  ejus  referri 
possit,  imprimis  cum  vita  functus,  sacerdotio  suo  in  tantum  per- 


LECTURE  VII.  175 

the  first  sense  it  is  used  by  S.  Paul  speaking  of 
himself,  '  not  as  though  I  were  already  perfect,'  and 
S.  John  speaks  of  our  love  being  made  perfect. 
In  the  second  sense  it  is  used  by  our  Lord  speak- 
ing of  himself:  '  Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and 
I  do  cures  to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  the  third 
day  I  shall  be  perfected.'    And  the  author  of  the 

functus  sit.     Itaque  perstiterim  fere  in  significatu  consummandi  vel 
2)erjiciendi  de  quo  conferes  Jacohi  Lydil  Agomst'ica  Sacra,  p.  129. 
The  subsequent  ecclesiastical  use  of  the  word  is  according  to  Suicer, 

1.  de  Baptismo,  Gregory  Nazianz.  Orat.  xxxvii.  p.  596.  S. 
Athanas.  Orat.  ii,  contra  Arianos,  Tom.  i.  p.  341.  He  adds.  Cur 
vero  TeXeiova-Qai  sit  haptizari  intelligitur  ex  Dialogo  i.  Atha- 
nasii  contra  Macedonium,  Tom.  ii.  p.  265,  ubi  base  leguntur :  ttw? 
oi)^  ofXoXojovfxevov  ia-Tiv^  oti  t»j?  irpo(TKVvi']<Teo3<i  to  ^aTTTta-fxa  jneT^oi/, 
oTTovye  Kotj  KaTr]-)(^ovfxevoi  irpoa-Kvvova-i  iraTepa  Kai  v'lov^  ovk  e^ovcri 
Be  TeX6iOT»jTa,  idv  fxr]  (BatrTia-Qtacnv  eh  to  ovofxa  tov  Trarpo?  ko.)  tov 
vlov,  Kai  TOV  aj'iov  riv£VfxaTo<;'  el  Be  jui?  elai  TeXeioi  -^picrTiavo)  o'l 
KaTYiyovfxevoi  irpiv  f]  fDairTicrduicn,  ptnTTTicrpei/Te?  oe  TcXeiovvTai,  to 
/SaTTTia-fxa  apa  fxe7^6v  ecTTi  t^?  Trpoa-Kvvrja-eco^  ;  6  Tt^v  TeXeioTtjTa 
Tapexei.  Qui  ergo  baptizantur  dicuntur  TeXeiovadat  consecrari, 
quia  Deo  consecrantur  et  quasi  inaugurantur ;  quemadmodura  qui  ad  • 
sacra  promoventur  officia  dicuntur  TeXeiovadai.  Anonymus  in 
Vita  Atbanasii  in  appendice,  Tom.  ii.  Hunc  nempe  Evagrium  qui 
fuit  successor  Eudoxii  Ariani  in  sede  Antiocbena,  sed  ortbodoxus  : 
lepai  T^e?|oe?  eVeXe/cocrai/  Yiva-Tadiov,  avhpois  eirKpavovi. 

2.  De  morte  (1)  piorum,  frequently  in  tbe  Mcnolog'mm ;  also 
S.  Chrysost.  Hom.  xiv.  1  Tim.  p.  309.  (2)  in  specie  de  morte 
martyrum.  S.  Cbrysost.  Horn,  xxxiv.  in  Act.  Apost.  of  S.  Paul, 
eVi  Ne'pwi/o?  eTcXeiwdr],  in  reference  to  bis  own  saying,  '  I  have 
finished  my  course.'  (Acts  xx.  24.)  In  2  Tim.  iv.  7,  it  is  tov 
cpofxov  TeTeXeKa.  It  is  a  constant  expression  in  tbe  Menologium, 
for  tbe  deatb  of  the  martyrs,  TeXeiovTai. 

As  applied  to  our  Lord,  tbe  word  TeXeio^  became  in  later  times 
a  word  of  peculiar  and  technical  kind  in  consequence  of  tbe  Arian 
controversy.  See  notes  to  S.  Athanasius  Treatises  against  Ari- 
anis77i,  Part  i.  p.  108,  p.  116. 


176  LECTCRE  VIT. 

Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  affirms  that  the  complete- 
ness of  the  state  of  those  who  in  time  of  old  died 
in  faith,  depended  on  the  full  development  of 
God's  purpose  towards  men  as  displayed  in  the 
Christian  Church  (Heb.  xi.  40) ;  and  the  spirits  of 
just  men  are  made  perfect  in  this  sense,  that  their 
complete  emancipation  from  death  is  effected  by 
the  work  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

In  both  senses  may  we  explain  the  application 
of  the  words  '  made  perfect'  to  our  Saviour ;  for  in 
the  first  place,  Christ  took  our  nature  upon  Him 
with  its  infirmities^  though  not  with  its  taint  of 
corruption ;  and  His  being  made  perfect,  as  far  as 
this  is  concerned,  imports  His  triumphing  over 
that  infirmity  ;  through  suffering  He  was  made 
perfect,  in  order  that  weakness  might  no  longer  be 
the  necessary  burden  of  the  redeemed.  And  in  the 
second  place,  this  process  secures  the  completeness 
of  the  work  of  Redemption  ;  *  in  that  He  Himself 
hath  suff'ered  being  tempted,  He  is  able  to  succour 
them  that  are  tempted.'  His  contest  with  the  evil 
one  was  otily  to  be  carried  on  through  the  weak- 
ness which  the  nature  He  took  had  essentially  in 
itself.  As  He  was  incapable  of  sinning,  the  temp- 
ter could  only  attack  Him  through  the  infirmities 
of  His  human  nature,  and  by  vanquishing  the 
enemy  on  this   ground,    the    perfection    or   com- 

^  See  S.  Chrysost.  on  John,  Horn.  Lxvii.  1,2;  S.  Cyril,  de  Red. 
Fid.  p.  18;  /S'.  Amhros.  de  Fid.  n.  n.  56;  S.  Cyril.  Ep.  ad  Success. 
I.  p.  138,  quoted  in  different  places  of  the  Athanasian  Treatises  as 
above. 


LECTURE  VIL  177 

pleteness  of  His  work  was  secured*.  The  sense  of 
want,  the  endurance  of  temptation  and  of  the 
withdrawal  of  God's  face,  and  death,  had  all  to  be 
undergone  in  order  to  lift  mankind  from  the  fallen 
state,  as  well  as  in  order  that  hereafter  He  might 
be  one  with  all  His  faithful  members  in  like  trials. 
If  it  had  pleased  God  to  restore  all  mankind  at 
once  to  the  state  of  innocence  after  the  atonement 
had  been  completed,  abolishing  sin,  and  all  pos- 
sibility of  sinning,  then  the  being  made  perfect  in 
one  sense  only  would  have  stood ;  but  since  it  has 
pleased  Him  that  mankind  shall  render  a  rational 
obedience,  and  by  faith  in  Christ  be  brought 
through  trial  in  this  life,  the  other  is  also  neces- 
sary in  order  that  the  work  of  Christ  may  be 
eftectually  wrought  in  each  individual  soul  that 
is  finally  saved. 

Thus  through  Christ's  suffering  the  redemption 
of  human  nature  is  completed,  and  through  His 
sufferings  he  is  united  to  each  individual  Christian 
in  his  trials ;  and  so  the  salvation  of  each  one  of 
those  who  attain  to  eternal  life  is  completed. 
This  seems  to  be  entirely  in  accordance  with  the 
general  argument  of  the  Apostle  in  the  place 
we  are  considering  :  '  We  see  Jesus,  who  was  made 
a  little  lower  than  the  angels  for  the  suffering  of 
death,  crowned  with  glory  and  honour — that  He 
by  the  grace  of  God  should  taste  of  death  for 
every  man.    For  it  became  Him,  for  whom  are  all 

1  See  S.  Athanasius'  Treatises  against  the  Avians,  (Eng.  Transl.) 
p.  241,  note  h. 


178  LECTURE  VII. 

things,  and  by  whom  are  all  things,  in  bringing 
many  sons  unto  glory,  to  make  the  Captain  of 
their  salvation  perfect  through  sufferings.... Foras- 
much then  as  the  children  were  partakers  of  flesh 
and  blood,  He  likewise  Himself  took  part  of  the 
same,  that  He  might  through  death  destroy  him 
that  had  the  power  of  death,  and  deliver  them 
who  through  fear  of  death  were  all  their  lifetime 
subject  to  bondage.' 

Christ  therefore  took  upon  Him  the  infirmities 
of  flesh  and  blood,  and  doing  battle  to  the  prince 
of  darkness  on  this  battle-ground,  overcame  him 
and  set  mankind  free.  It  was  through  death  that 
death  was  destroyed.  It  is  through  the  imper- 
fections which  are  involved  in  the  idea  of  liability 
to  suffering,  that  Christ  completed  His  work. 
This  idea  I  wish  to  follow  out  now,  as  verified  in 
Christ's  body,  the  Church,  ever  since  it  has  existed ; 
and  I  would  argue  from  the  way  in  which  the  in- 
firmities to  which  the  Church  is  liable,  have  proved 
sources  of  strength  and  contributed  to  her  ad- 
vancement, that  she  must  evidently  have  been 
preserved  by  a  divine  power.  Just  as  Christ,  the 
head  of  the  body,  through  participation  in  the 
infirmities  of  our  nature,  relaxed  and  unfastened 
the  hold  which  Satan  had  upon  it;  so,  as  S.  Paul 
wrote  to  the  Philippians  (i.  12),  the  disastrous 
things  which  happened  unto  him,  fell  out  rather 
for  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel.  And  in  all  sub- 
sequent times  the  infirmities  of  the  Church  have, 
by  God's  wonderful  providence,  been  turned  into 


LECTURE  VII.  179 

sources  of  strength,  and  caused  the  spread  of  the 
true  faith. 

Before  proceeding  to  this  development  of  the 
doctrine  taught  us  respecting  our  Saviour,  we  may 
notice  one  or  two  occasions  where  the  perfection  of 
the  members  of  Clirist  through  imitation  of  the  Sa- 
viour is  referred  to.  And  in  the  first  place,  we  may 
refer  to  the  saying  in  our  Lord's  discourse  (S.  Luke 
vi.  40),  '  The  disciple  is  not  above  his  master  ;  but 
every  one  that  is  perfect  shall  be  as  his  master.' 
The  word  translated  'perfect'  here  is  not  reXeiwOeis, 
but  KaTrjpTia/uei'o^,  and  the  connexion  with  the  pre- 
ceding verses  will  be  as  follows :  '  Can  the  blind 
lead  the  blind  ?  Shall  they  not  both  fall  into  the 
ditch?  The  disciple  is  not  above  his  master.'  Being 
addressed  to  the  disciples,  this  is  a  warning  to  them 
that  to  secure  a  faithful  discharge  of  duty  in  those 
who  teach  others,  the  teachers  must  themselves 
first  of  all  become  enlightened,  but  must  not  as- 
sume the  office  of  judging  other  men  individually; 
which  was  an  office  which  Christ  himself  never 
assumed  while  exercising  his  ministry.  *  I  judge 
no  man'  (S.John  viii.  15).  In  this  respect  all 
Christ's  ministers  must  follow  the  example  of  their 
Master,  not  set  themselves  above  Him  ;  and  every 
one  nmst  be  fully  prepared  or  instructed  in  the 
same  way  that  He  was ;  they  must  be  prepared  for 
their  office  as  He  was,  i.  e.  by  humility.  They 
must  declare  God's  judgments  in  general  terms. 
'Hath  no  man  condemned  thee?  neither  do  I 
condemn    thee : '  but  nevertheless  hear  the  word 


180  LECTURE  VII. 

which  condemns  all  sin,  and  'go,  and  sin  no 
more.'  And  they  must  be  perfected  for  their  office 
as  He  was,  through  suffering,  as  S.  Epiphanius 
interprets  it,  and  as  our  Lord  Himself  on  another 
occasion  warns  them  :  '  If  they  have  persecuted 
me,  they  will  also  persecute  you.'  This  humility 
and  diffidence  in  judging  was  to  be  promoted  in 
them  by  remembering  that  they  must  expect  an 
evil  construction  on  their  motives,  and  therefore 
not  repine  under  it,  but  expect  to  be  perfected  in 
one  (S.  John  xvii.  23)  by  the  indwelling  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  to  sustain  them  under  their  perse- 
cutions, knowing  that  they  must  take  their  share 
with  the  Captain  of  their  salvation. 

Again,  this  perfection  through  infirmity  is 
affirmed  (in  2  Cor.  xii.  9),  when  the  Lord  revealed 
to  S.  Paul  that  it  was  in  weakness  that  his 
Master's  strength  was  to  be  made  perfect.  Thus, 
as  Christ  was  made  perfect  through  suffering,  so 
was  the  Apostle  to  endure  gladly  all  the  afflictions 
which  came  upon  him,  because  in  these  very 
things  he  was  to  be  made  perfect,  or  completed, 
through  the  strength  of  Christ  imparted  to  him. 

In  passing  on  to  the  general  subject  marked 
out,  we  notice  that  the  death  of  Christ  was  of  such 
a  nature  that,  humanly  speaking,  it  should  have 
been  fatal  to  his  design.  If  the  founder  of  a 
Religion  suffers  death  as  a  malefactor,  an  igno- 
minious death,  with  all  attendant  circumstances 
of  disgrace,  this  would,  generally  speaking,  suf- 
fice to  defeat  all  pretensions  to  any  heaven-sent 


LECTURE  VII.  181 

mission.  'What,'  would  it  be  said,  by  one  who 
heard  of  such  an  event,  '  can  you  put  faith  in  one 
who  was  condemned  and  executed  as  a  criminal 
by  an  obscure  Roman  governor,  in  a  small  pro- 
vince of  the  Empire,  one  of  an  obstinate  and 
turbulent  race?  Is  not  this  wretched  end  of  one 
who  had  such  lofty  pretensions  enough  to  convince 
you  that  you  must  be  under  a  mistake?' 

Yet  how  strangely  different  was  the  result! 
Leaving  out  of  all  question  at  present  the  high 
mystery  involved  in  Christ's  death  as  a  sacrifice, 
we  see  that  this  very  fact  of  Christ's  ignominious 
death  was  in  after  ages  a  most  powerful  induce- 
ment to  the  early  Christians  in  time  of  persecution 
to  seal  their  testimony  by  their  blood ;  and  if  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  be  the  seed  of  Christianity, 
we  see  how  the  death  of  our  Saviour  promoted 
their  willing  sacrifice  of  life  in  the  same  way,  how 
it  produced  in  them  that  lowliness  and  humility 
which  He  preached. 

But  still  more,  through  death  Christ  subdued 
the  power  of  death,  not  only  by  inspiring  His 
followers  with  contempt  for  its  pain  and  courage 
under  its  infliction;  but  leading  the  way  to  His 
Resurrection,  it  prepared  the  greatest  proof  that 
we  can  bring  of  the  divinity  of  His  errand  to  man- 
kind. His  death  was  the  necessary  preliminary  to 
His  resurrection  ;  and  His  proving  to  His  disciples 
that  He  had  thus  vanquished  the  great  enemy  of 
mankind  by  laying  down  His  life,  and  then  by  His 
own  power  resuming  it,  inspired  them  with  the 

H,  L.  N 


182  LECTURE  VII. 

utmost  confidence  and  hope.  '  If  Christ  be  not 
risen,  we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable;'  '  but  now 
is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  and  become  the  first 
fruits  of  them  that  slept.' 

Here  we  have  the  first  most  remarkable  in- 
stance of  Christ  being  made  perfect  through 
suffering.  The  completion  of  our  redemption  was 
in  His  submission  to  this  the  great  and  principal 
infirmity  to  which  mankind  is  subject,  and  the 
overcoming  the  fear  of  death  in  all  Christians,  in 
consequence  of  death  being  subject  to  Him,  is 
another  result  in  which  through  weakness  He  is 
made  our  strength.  If  all  mankind  were  subject 
to  bondage  through  fear  of  death,  Christ's  death 
was  to  abolish  this  fear,  and  to  prove  (when  it  led 
to  His  resurrection)  to  all  the  faithful  that  Christ 
had  destroyed  death  as  an  irreversible  sentence. 
The  charnel-house  was  no  longer  to  be  a  perpetual 
cheerless  prison.  It  was  to  be  the  threshold  of 
eternal  life  to  all  who  would  obey  the  Gospel. 

In  this  then  we  have  an  instance  of  the  per- 
fection and  completion  of  the  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion through  infirmity.  The  resurrection,  the 
consequence  of  Christ's  death,  was  the  chief 
ground  of  the  confidence  which  the  disciples  had. 
It  sent  them  out  to  preach  with  unwavering 
assiduity,  the  message  He  had  left  for  mankind. 
When  a  result  so  unexpected  ensues  upon  a 
catastrophe  seemingly  so  fatal,  is  not  this  an 
evidence  of  overruling  by  a  divine  will,  an  argu- 
ment that  Christianity  is  from  God? 


LECTURE  VII.  183 

Next  consider  that  in  a  few  years  after  Christ's 
death,  when  considerable  progress  had  been  made 
in  converting  the  people  to  the  new  doctrines, 
the  rulers  of  the  Jews,  unable  to  despise  or  over- 
look the  changes  that  threatened  them,  united 
against  the  principal  teachers,  destroyed  the  chief 
of  the  Apostles,  broke  up  the  whole  society,  and 
scattered  them  away  from  Jerusalem.  What 
follows?  Did  this  check  the  spread  of  the  new 
doctrine  ?  Did  it  put  down  the  innovation,  and 
stop  the  proselytizing  which  had  gone  on  ?  Quite 
the  contrary.  The  scattering  of  the  early  disciples 
from  their  head  quarters,  and  the  dispersion  of 
the  organization  which  they  had  made,  produced 
nothing  but  enlarged  success.  They  went  preach- 
ing everywhere,  and  gaining  multitudes  over  to 
their  side,  and  soon,  the  narrow  boundaries  of 
Jewish  nationality  being  broken  down,  the  hea- 
then and  surrounding  nations  were  persuaded  to 
enrol  themselves  in  the  new  faith. 

Persecution,  contempt,  the  sword,  exile,  all 
tended  to  the  furtherance  of  the  mighty  scheme. 
The  things  that  were  meant  for  its  destruction, 
turned  out  for  its  advantage  and  corroboration ; 
and  thus  we  see  the  completeness  of  the  body  of 
Christ  promoted  and  worked  out  through  infirmity 
and  sufferings. 

As  we  pass  on  to  later  times,  we  noticfe  the 
constant  persecutions  of  the  Christians  under 
successive  Roman  Emperors.  These  were  sufficient 
to  have  broken  down  the  strongest  hearts.     All 


184  LECTURE  VII. 

that  malice  and  ingenuity  could  devise  w^as 
employed  to  shake  the  resolution  of  the  Christian 
converts.  The  rage  and  insolence  of  a  brutal 
populace,  the  scourges  and  torture  of  legal  bar- 
barity, subtle  promises  and  entreaties  employed 
to  induce  compliance  with  idolatrous  rites,  were 
in  their  turn  arrayed  against  them.  They  were 
accused  of  the  most  odious  crimes,  they  were 
made  the  scapegoats  of  the  most  infamous  wicked- 
ness on  the  part  of  others ;  they  were  held  up  to 
execration  as  the  cause  of  the  public  calamities. 
Vast  numbers  were  put  to  death  throughout  the 
Empire.  Fresh  modes  of  torture  were  invented  to 
terrify  them  :  where  public  authority  was  wanting, 
popular  fury  in  many  places  overwhelmed  them  : 
not  only  pagans,  but  Jewish  impostors^  were 
against  them.  In  spite  of  the  more  equitable 
decrees  of  Trajan  and  Antoninus  Pius,  public 
frenzy  prevailed  :  the  calumnies  of  philosophers, 
even  under  the  mild  rule  of  Marcus  Aurelius, 
procured  them  injurious  treatment.  The  rapacity 
and  cowardice  of  a  cruel  covetous  magistracy, 
submitting  to  the  voice  of  the  populace,  was  the 
source  of  much  suffering  to  them.  When  thus 
the  most  dreadful  penalties  were  incurred  for 
adherence  to  the  new  religion,  what  was  the 
consequence?  Did  these  sufferings  avail  to  check 
the  spread  of  the  Gospel?  Far  from  it.  The 
Church  grew  and  prospered,  and  daily  its  num- 

^  Barchochebas.     Justin  Martyr,  Apol.   i.   31;  Euseh.  H.  E. 
Lib.  IV.  8;  Basnage,  Histoire  des  Juifs,  Lib.  vii.  c.  12. 


LECTURE   VII.  185 

bers  increased  and  multiplied  \  The  noble  ex- 
ample of  the  martyrs  became  arguments  wherewith 
the  preachers  and  apologists  for  Christianity 
assaulted  the  strong  holds  of  their  opponents. 
The  things  which  were  wrought  for  its  destruction 
turned  out  in  every  place  for  the  furtherance  of 
the  Gospel ;  though  constancy  to  their  vows 
never  failed  to  procure  exquisite  torture  to  the 
professors  of  religion,  the  weakness  of  women 
was  turned  into  tlie  most  heroic  courage.  The 
flames  of  the  stake  became  beacons  of  light  to 
draw  men  to  admire,  examine  and  embrace  the 
truth.  The  heroism  which  endurance  of  cruelty 
called  forth  became  an  inducement  to  many  to 
believe.  They  could  not  resist  the  evidence  which 
such  constancy  afforded,  of  high  hopes  in  the 
condemned.  Sincerity,  shewn  by  so ^wrmy,  could  not 
but  awaken  in  thoughtful  minds  desire  to  know 
the  grounds  of  such  confidence,  and  thus  through 
suffering  again  was  the  Church  made  perfect. 

So  remarkable  was  the  result  of  these  perse- 
cutions in  promoting  instead  of  stopping  the 
spread  of  Christianity,  that  it  has  now  become  an 
argument  with  men  for  refraining  from  perse- 
cutions, because  they  had  so  illustrious  an  example 
of  the  growth  of  the  Church,  while  all  was  done 
to  prevent  it.  It  was  found  that  the  effect  pro- 
duced was  exactly  the  contrary  of  that  which  was 

^  Fundendo  sanguinem  et  patiendo  magis  quam  faciendo  contu- 
melias,  Christi  fundata  est  Ecclesia. — Hieronymi  Epistol(B,  quoted 
by  Dr  Barrow,  Vol.  i.  p.  124  (fol.  ed.) 


186  LECTURE  VII. 

anticipated,  and  that  there  was  in  Christianity  a 
power  of  vitality  which  only  shewed  itself  the 
more,  as  the  attempts  to  destroy  it  were  the  more 
vehement. 

This  demands  a  little  further  notice.  The 
remark  now  commonly  made,  and  assented  to, 
that  as  a  general  rule,  persecution  of  opinions 
rather  promotes  their  spread  than  impedes  it, 
may  admit  of  very  considerable  question.  The 
Albigenses  were  effectually  extinguished  by  the 
blood-thirsty  cruelty  of  Arnold  the  Abbot  of  Ci- 
teaux,  and  Simon  de  Montfort.  The  Hugonots 
were  extirpated  from  nearly  the  whole  of  France 
by  the  horrible  persecutions  which  followed  the 
repeal  of  protecting  laws.  Mahometan  conquest 
has  obliterated  the  ancient  sees  of  northern  Africa, 
and  a  country  once  fertile  in  most  active  and 
intelligent  Christian  writers,  is  now  utterly  without 
the  light  of  the  Gospel. 

It  ought  not  then  to  be  assumed  too  hastily, 
that  the  vigorous  flourishing  of  the  Christian 
Church,  whilst  assailed  by  the  bitter  animosities 
of  human  persecutors,  was  the  result  of  a  natural 
law  which  makes  opposition  a  source  of  strength, 
and  ensures  the  success  of  whatever  is  oppressed. 
I  think  it  is  a  more  true  account  of  this  general 
persuasion,  that  it  has  arisen  out  of  the  very  cir- 
cumstances to  which  we  are  referring.  Unin- 
fluenced by  this  historical  fact,  the  prevalent 
opinion  of  mankind  is  the  exact  opposite.  Practi- 
cally, persecution  is  never  considered  as  promoting 


LECTURE  VII.  187 

the  interest  of  the  party  which  is  persecuted,  and 
it  is  unreasonable  to  assume  a  natural  tendency 
of  things,  as  the  solution  of  the  fact  that  Chris- 
tianity grew  vigorously  under  the  opposition  of 
heathen  powers,  in  order  to  defeat  a  conclusion 
that  may  more  rationally  be  drawn,  that  Chris- 
tianity had  a  Divine  special  support.  Gamaliel, 
who  opposed  persecution,  did  not  do  so  because 
it  would  be  sure  to  defeat  its  own  object,  but 
because  it  was  uncertain  whether  the  new  religion 
were  from  God  or  not,  and  because  so  many 
seditious  movements  came  to  nothing  of  themselves. 
All  men  naturally  are  persecutors  of  those  who 
entertain  opinions  opposite  to  their  own,  and  this 
must  arise  in  a  great  degree  from  an  impression 
that  what  is  obnoxious  can  be  stopped  or  defeated 
by  oppression. 

I  am  not  therefore  prepared  to  assign  the  con- 
tinued and  substantial  progress  of  Christianity 
under  the  Imperial  persecutions  to  this  law  of 
contraries.  It  seems  much  more  according  to 
right  reason,  to  believe  that  when  the  religion  of 
self  denial  and  purity  made  its  way  through  blood 
and  fiery  tortures,  against  the  greatest  power 
that  the  world  has  ever  seen  of  a  temporal  kind, 
it  was  because  the  Almighty  Father  protected  it 
and  promoted  it ;  and  because  it  was  under  this 
special  protection,  therefore  it  grew  and  increased 
while  all  things  seem  to  portend  the  contrary. 
As  for  this  sect^  ive  hear  it  everywhere  spohen 
against,  was  the  ordinary  feeling.     It  could  not 


188  LECTURE  VII. 

have  survived  this  general  mistrust  and  dislike, 
when  they  were  supported  by  the  terrors  of  the 
executioner,  if  it  had  not  pleased  God  that  it 
should  go  on,  increase  and  multiply  and  subdue 
the  earth,  and  so,  in  the  midst  of  sufferings,  pro- 
gress towards  perfection  and  completion. 

Thus  as  the  Captain  of  our  Salvation  was 
made  perfect  through  sufferings,  so  the  body,  of 
which  He  is  the  Head,  grew,  increased,  and 
multiplied  through  sufferings  also,  and  evinced  its 
divine  energy  by  turning  into  means  of  progress 
what  was  meant  for  its  annihilation. 

The  fortunes  of  the  nascent  spiritual  kingdom 
were  again  severely  tried  by  internal  dissensions. 
The  plague  of  Arianism  had  well-nigh  prevailed 
at  one  time.  The  tares,  which  the  enemy  had 
sown  among  the  wheat,  almost  overcame  the  good 
seed.  At  the  council  of  Ariminum  (359),  a  decree 
was  passed  which  seemed  to  accommodate  matters 
between  the  contending  parties;  but  it  was  soon 
found  that  through  the  subtlety  of  the  Arian 
party,  it  had  in  reality  admitted  the  error  which 
was  opposed.  The  true  doctrine  of  the  Church 
was  obscured,  and  the  poison  had  spread  to  such 
a  degree  that  the  four  hundred  bishops  of  that 
council  were  either  intimidated  or  deceived  into 
the  conclusion  they  adopted ^  Never  was  the  faith 
in  greater  danger.     Yet  out  of  this  peril  was  the 

1  S.  Athanasius,  Epistle  concerning  the  Councils  at  Ariminum 
and  Seleucia,  c.  ii.  §  30.  See  the  note  there,  in  the  English  trans- 
lation, '  Library  of  the  Fathers.' 


LECTURE  VII.  189 

Church  delivered ;  and  roused  by  the  energy  of 
S.  Hilary  in  the  west,  the  sanction  given  to  error 
was  recalled,  and  the  true  doctrine  re-established 
in  authority.  Now  it  seems  undoubted  that  out  of 
this  peril  arose  ultimately  considerable  advantages. 
The  condemnation  of  the  Macedonians,  Nestorians, 
Monophysites,  and  other  heretics  must  have  been 
the  more  easy  task,  in  consequence  of  the  rigid 
investigations  which  had  taken  place  during  the 
Arian  controversy.  The  final  triumph  of  the 
orthodox  doctrine  in  the  former  case,  must  have 
led  men  to  place  greater  trust  in  the  clearness 
and  distinctions  which  were  now  able  to  be  made. 
They  were  prepared  for  investigations  which 
would  soon  put  down  errors :  and  according  to 
the  saying  of  S.  Paul,  that  there  must  needs  be 
heresies,  that  the  faithful  may  be  made  manifest, 
so  clearness  and  precision  were  attained  by  the 
Church  being  generally  bound  to  certain  close 
and  accurate  conclusions. 

Sufferings  again  produced  progress  towards 
perfection.  Purged  that  it  might  bring  forth 
more  fruit,  the  Church  came  forth  from  the  trial 
invigorated  and  ready  to  do  battle  to  the  powers 
of  evil  in  other  forms.  Schism  and  dissension, 
the  rending  of  the  body,  the  deep  and  grievous 
wounds  which  the  prince  of  darkness  could  inflict 
upon  the  spouse  of  Christ,  like  the  sufferings  of 
our  blessed  Redeemer  Himself,  all  resulted  in 
the  healing  of  the  nations;  all  promoted  the  ex- 
tension of  the  covenant  among  the  sons  of  men. 


190  LECTURE  VII. 

Further,  the  irruption  of  the  savage  hordes  of 
barbarians  which  caused  the  destruction  of  the 
Roman  Empire  in  the  West  was  another  danger 
which  threatened  and  severely  tried  the  Church 
of  Christ.  The  enervated  and  unwarlike  popu- 
lation which  now  formed  the  mass  of  the  Empire 
could  oppose  no  effectual  resistance  to  the  in- 
vaders ;  and  carnage  and  destruction  prevailed 
throughout  its  boundaries.  But  to  countervail 
the  efforts  of  the  ungodly,  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
had  arms  miglitier  than  the  sword  and  the  bow. 
The  conquerors  of  the  land  were  themselves 
brought  under  its  sway,  and  were  enrolled  in 
the  number  of  the  faithful.  The  nations  which 
mowed  down  the  Imperial  ranks,  and  crushed  the 
decaying  remnants  of  the  power  of  the  Cesars, 
were  converted  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  new 
subjects  were  thus  added  to  the  kingdom  which 
was  really  to  become  universal  and  permanent. 
And  though  out  of  this  very  success  a  new  danger 
arose  ;  though  many  of  the  invaders  were  converted 
to  heretical  forms  of  Christianity,  as  were  the 
Vandals  in  Africa,  who  embraced  the  Arian 
heresy ;  yet  on  the  whole,  and  by  degrees,  the 
cloud  which  had  overspread  the  brightness  of  the 
Christian  truth  was  gradually  dispersed,  and  the 
faith  made  a  gain  of  that  which  brought  ruin  to 
the  human  Empire  under  which  it  had  hitherto 
been  propagated. 

The  protecting  hand  of  God  was  again  clearly 
seen  in  the  final  condemnation  of  the  Eutychians 


LECTURE  VII.  191 

in  the  sixth  (Ecumenical  Synod  (680).  This 
heresy,  like  the  Arian,  threatened  to  overwhelm  the 
Church,  when  the  Emperor  Heraclius  made  his 
decree  in  its  favour,  and  Honorius,  the  bishop  of 
Rome,  concurred  in  the  surrender  of  the  truth,  for 
an  apparent  reunion  of  the  orthodox  and  the 
heretics.  Betrayed  by  one  who  ought  to  have 
been  its  staunch  defender,  and  harassed  by  the 
extension  of  the  power  of  the  State  to  the  main- 
tenance of  false  principles,  the  Church  was  well- 
nigh  borne  down  with  misfortune.  But  out  of 
the  bitter  came  forth  the  strong,  and  through  the 
courageous  resistance  to  error,  backed  by  power, 
and  connived  at  by  Ecclesiastical  authorities, 
which  was  conducted  by  Sophronius,  the  patriarch 
of  Jerusalem,  and  others  of  the  faithful,  the  Church 
was  delivered  from  this  peril,  and  out  of  weakness 
was  made  strong.  Was  there  not  some  special 
favour  towards  her,  when  under  circumstances  so 
trying,  and  against  influence  so  potent,  the  true 
faith  was  preserved  and  the  struggling  Church 
was  saved?  And  is  there  not  here  a  fulfilment  of 
the  general  characteristic,  which  we  have  noticed, 
so  that,  through  suffering,  the  Church  grew,  and 
achieved  independence  of  the  edicts  of  Emperors, 
and  superiority  over  the  fatal  compromises  of  time- 
serving Prelates? 

Again,  in  the  midst  of  safety  there  is  danger. 
The  consideration  and  influence  acquired  by  the 
Church  led  to  a  tyranny  and  organization,  which, 
while  it  had  its  use,  as  we  shall  see,  yet  was  in  a 


192  LECTURE  VII. 

spiritual  sense  most  disastrous.  The  authority  of 
the  Roman  See,  though  encroaching,  was  at  first 
exercised  for  good.  It  was  natural  so  long  as 
Rome  was  the  seat  of  power,  that  its  bishop 
should  be  looked  upon  as  the  chief  protector  of 
the  Church.  He  was  better  able  than  other 
bishops  to  resist  all  encroachments,  and  to  assist 
in  the  reformation  of  abuses  either  of  doctrine  or 
discipline,  which  in  the  disordered  state  of  Chris- 
tendom, during  the  invasions  of  the  barbarians, 
spread  throughout  its  length  and  breadth.  The 
enforcing  of  submission  to  the  See  of  Rome,  as 
the  head  quarters  of  the  Western  Church,  was  a 
natural  consequence  of  such  a  state  of  things  ;  and 
detrimental  as  it  was  in  aftertimes  to  the  purity 
of  the  Gospel,  yet  at  first  it  might  seem  to  be 
almost  necessary  to  preserve  order  and  uniformity 
of  doctrine. 

We  may  in  the  following  manner  discern  how 
this  infliction  on  the  Church  of  Christ  was  turned 
into  an  instrument  of  good.  In  the  dark  ages, 
amid  universal  ignorance  and  neglect  of  learning 
even  by  those  who  had  time  and  means  at  their 
disposal,  the  preservation  of  the  faith  must  have 
been  much  assisted  by  the  respect  which  the 
political  influence  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  secured 
to  Christianity,  the  promotion  of  Christian  soci- 
eties, and  the  immunity  gained  for  religious 
foundations.  The  perpetual  state  of  warfare 
between  rival  princes,  the  feebleness  of  the  govern- 
ments,   the   insolence    of    independent     powerful 


LECTURE  VII.  193 

subjects,  caused  general  lawlessness  and  disorder. 
Ecclesiastical  revenues  were  constantly  in  danger 
of  seizure  by  kings  and  feudal  lords,  improper 
persons  were  often  thrust  into  places  of  trust  and 
honour,  churches  and  monasteries  were  often 
pillaged  and  burned,  the  schools  of  learning  M^ere 
extinguished,  the  laity  were  immersed  in  gross 
ignorance,  and  the  clergy  were  not  much  superior 
to  them.  The  unlawful  attitude  assumed  by  the 
bishops  of  Rome  was,  under  these  circumstances, 
one  which  God  overruled  for  the  good  of  the 
Church.  The  influence  which  they  sought  for 
worldly  ends,  was  of  use  to  preserve  the  remnant 
that  was  left,  and  the  consciousness  of  this  pro- 
tection produced  good  fruit.  Though  the  main 
body  of  Christians  was  at  this  time  little  careful 
to  obey  the  law  of  Christ,  yet  there  were  many 
who  shewed  forth  most  ardent  and  earnest  religion, 
who  devoted  themselves  most  unreservedly  to  the 
practice  of  piety  and  self-denial.  Amidst  much 
ignorance  and  superstition,  there  was  much  of  cha- 
rity, much  zeal,  many  good  works.  There  was  an 
earnest  spirit  of  devotion  in  those  who  gave  their 
whole  energies  to  the  work  of  missions,  in  the 
numbers  who  retired  from  the  strife  and  honours 
of  the  world  to  spend  their  days  in  penitence  and 
prayer.  This  was  much  promoted  by  the  security 
and  sanctity  of  religious  houses,  and  the  respect 
which  generally  attached  to  the  profession  of  reli- 
gious vows,  and  both  these  were  in  large  measure 
owing  to  the  power  and  authority  of  the  Pope. 


194  LECTURE  VII. 

Thus  the  preservation  of  religion  was  ensured 
by  an  encroachment  which  threatened  eventually 
very  great  evils.  What  was  really  an  injury  and 
usurpation,  led  to  a  result  for  which  we  may  well 
even  now  thank  God.  The  loss  of  the  Church  in 
this  case  was  turned  into  gain,  and  the  furtherance 
of  the  Gospel  resulted  from  the  bonds  weaved 
tightly  around  her :  at  first  they  strengthened, 
though  afterwards  they  threatened  to  crush. 

Following  still  the  fortunes  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  we  deplore  the  prevalence  of  error  in 
doctrine  which  gradually  crept  into  it ;  but  the 
flagrant  abuses  which  awakened  men's  indig- 
nation produced  the  Reformation  of  religion,  which 
restored  the  purity  of  the  Gospel,  and  set  men 
free  from  the  iron  tyranny  of  Rome,  which  had 
become  unendurable.  It  was  no  doubt  attended 
with  many  evils.  The  interruption  of  communion 
between  churches  which  ensued,  when  many 
resolved  upon  returning  to  the  purity  of  the  faith 
and  simplicity  of  ritual  which  characterized  the 
Apostolic  ages,  was  in  itself  a  great  loss.  Since 
by  unity  and  mutual  love  Christ's  kingdom  was 
to  be  known  among  men,  whatever  marred  this 
testimony  to  the  world  was  a  loss  and  suffering 
to  the  Church.  Bitter  railings  and  accusations, 
mutual  persecutions  and  destructive  wars,  all 
followed  upon  this  disruption  ;  and  what  was  the 
result?  Did  the  world  at  large  begin  to  argue,  as 
it  might  be  feared  they  would,  that  so  divided 
and  disunited  a  body  as  the  Church   then   was. 


LECTURE  VII.  195 

could  not  be  the  kingdom  of  peace  and  good  will, 
and  that  our  Saviour's  mission  had  failed,  and  the 
gates  of  hell  had  prevailed  against  the  Church, 
in  direct  negation  of  what  Christ  himself  had  pro- 
phesied? We  know  that  the  result  was  quite  the 
reverse,  that  since  the  time  when  the  national 
churches  of  the  Teutonic  races  declared  them- 
selves free  from  any  obligation  to  the  doctrinal 
decisions  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  would  no 
longer  submit  to  papal  decrees,  piety  and  charity 
and  good  works  of  every  description  have  more 
abounded  amongst  them.  Civilization  received  a 
marked  impulse  from  that  time,  and  the  reformed 
churches  have  been  the  pioneers  in  all  the  im- 
provements which  have  since  taken  place  for  the 
general  benefit  of  mankind.  It  is  beyond  my 
purpose  to  trace  whether  the  Reformation  of 
religion  proceeded  from  the  revival  of  learning, 
and  the  greater  facility  acquired  in  consequence 
for  investigating  the  Inspired  records,  and  the 
history  and  doctrine  of  the  primitive  Church.  It 
is  sufficient  to  indicate,  that  from  a  period  of  great 
suffering,  by  the  want  of  purity  in  doctrine,  by 
ignorance  and  scandalous  abuses,  when,  even  on 
the  confession  of  the  rigid  adherents  of  the  papal 
systems  there  was  a  most  urgent  need  of  refor- 
mation, out  of  all  this  arose  a  state  of  things 
tending  to  the  increase  of  true  piety  and  rational 
obedience  to  the  spiritual  laws  of  Christianity.    It 

^  See  the  Decreta  et  Constitutiones  Concilii  Tridentini,  passim, 
and  iSarpi,  B.  i. 


196  LECTURE  VII. 

seems  apparent  to  most  understandings,  that  the 
papal  pretensions  could  never  have  continued 
under  the  present  state  of  the  world,  since  even 
in  countries  still  adhering  to  the  bishop  of  Rome's 
communion,  the  power  which  he  exercises  has 
shrunk  most  considerably  from  its  former  arrogant 
extent.  Popes  are  no  longer  of  any  consequence 
in  the  political  system  of  Europe;  their  decrees 
are  disregarded,  their  temporal  authority  a  mere 
shadoAV,  the  voice  which  they  once  had  in  the 
destinies  of  empires  is  completely  silenced.  So 
great  a  change  from  the  vast  pretensions  which 
they  set  up  before  the  Reformation,  must  in  a  con- 
siderable degree  have  resulted  from  it ;  and  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  so  monstrous  an  evil  as  the 
perpetual  interference  of  a  power,  combining 
spiritual  and  temporal  authority,  in  the  internal 
concerns  of  nearly  every  nation  in  Europe,  could 
have  been  gotten  rid  of,  unless  there  had  been 
some  extraordinary  revolution  in  the  whole 
system.  Great  good  must  be  purchased  by 
sacrifices ;  but  in  this  case  the  sacrifices  were 
immaterial  compared  with  the  result  attained. 
The  progress  of  mankind,  intellectually  and 
socially,  required  the  overthrow  of  the  spiritual 
despotism,  and  this  resulted  in  great  measure 
from  the  alliance  of  the  despotism  with  false 
doctrine,  superstitions,  and  a  variety  of  abuses. 
It  was  these  latter  which  aroused  the  spirits  of 
men  to  shake  ofi'  their  fetters,  and  return  to  the 
simple  faith  of  the  early  Church.    It  was  not  an 


LECTURE  VII.  197 

object  of  the  reformers  at  first  to  get  rid  of  the 
supremacy  of  Rome.  Their  first  aim  was  a  puri- 
fication of  the  defiled  Temple  of  God,  and  it  was 
only  in  the  course  of  events,  so  ordered  by  the 
far-reaching  care  of  the  Almighty,  that  this  puri- 
fication involved  the  downfall  of  papal  tyranny 
in  a  large  part  of  the  western  Church,  and  its 
gradual  shrinking  up  into  much  smaller  di- 
mensions in  that  part  which  still  acknowledges 
the  spiritual  headship  of  the  Pope. 

The  sufferings  of  the  Church,  the  throes  and 
heavings  attendant  on  the  struggle,  the  pains  en- 
dured by  the  whole  body  resulted  in  deliverance 
from  an  iron  yoke ;  the  greater  expansion  and 
freedom  of  thought  which  followed,  the  clearer 
perception  of  the  great  vital  power  of  the  Gospel 
over  men's  hearts,  the  larger  and  more  philoso- 
phical adaptation  of  the  system  to  the  wants  of 
the  human  race,  have  all  resulted  from  the  strife 
which  accompanied  this  great  change  ;  and  thus 
we  are  again  brought  to  confess  that  as  the  Cap- 
tain of  our  salvation  was  made  perfect  through 
sufferings,  His  body  also  is  subject  to  the  same 
law,  and  exemplifies  still  the  permanence  of  the 
type, — completeness  and  progress  through  suf- 
fering and  chastisement. 

If  from  the  time  of  the  Reformation  we  fix 
our  attention  on  our  own  branch  of  the  Church, 
we  shall  see  much  of  the  same  law  prevailing. 
The  Erastianism  of  the  age  when  the  princes  of 
the  house  of  Tudor  held  sway  over  the  land  was 

H-  L.  o 


198  LECTURE  VII. 

severely  punished  by  the  subsequent  persecution 
which  Puritan  bitterness  stirred  up  ;  and  the  tem- 
porary cloud  which  overspread  the  Church  at  the 
time  of  the  civil  wars,  and  during  the  triumph  of 
the  republican  party,  though  it  seemed  to  threaten 
the  annihilation  of  our  ecclesiastical  polity,  was 
not  without  advantage  to  the  spiritual  wellbeing 
of  the  Church.  At  no  time  can  she  reckon  so 
large  a  number  of  sound  and  learned  theologians 
as  during  the  17th  century.  As  the  downfall  of 
the  Stuarts  drew  near,  the  prelates  of  the  Church 
were  among  the  foremost  defenders  of  civil  liberty, 
the  most  courageous  opponents  of  the  illegal 
measures  of  the  court ;  and  this  was  not  from  any 
joining  in  unchristian  opposition  to  the  powers 
that  be,  from  factious  or  unworthy  motives,  but, 
as  was  shewn  soon  after,  there  was  a  rigid  and 
stern  sense  of  duty  which  prompted  those  who 
had  stood  up  as  witnesses  for  the  truth  against 
the  prerogative,  to  sacrifice  all  for  Christ's  sake — 
a  noble  conscientiousness  which  even  those  who 
cannot  sympathize  with  their  scruples,  will  always 
recognize :  the  illustrious  name  of  Ken  will  ever 
command  the  affection  and  respect  of  all  true 
churchmen.  How  different  was  this  spirit  from 
that  unfortunate  reliance  on  secular  support  which 
characterized  the  early  part  of  the  century !  We 
cannot  but  observe  how  adversity  had  been  a 
school  of  discipline,  and  how  through  much  suf- 
fering the  Church  had  gained  in  highminded 
tone,  in  regard  for  the  rights  of  conscience,  and 


LECTURE  VII.  199 

in  knowledge  of  its  independent  authority  and 
dignity.  We  cannot  fail  to  see  how  this  was 
brought  about  through  suffering;  how  cruel  per- 
secution and  oppression  had  wrought  for  the 
spiritual  wellbeing  and  perfecting  of  the  body  of 
Christ  amongst  us. 

But  I  refrain  from  urging  this  in  later  times, 
as  it  might  involve  discussion  of  points  too  nearly 
touching  present  difficulties ;  and  I  hasten  to  con- 
clude, merely  noticing  one  feature  of  our  times 
which  seems  to  me  to  exhibit  much  the  same 
general  characteristic,  that  the  evils  and  damage 
resulting  from  the  infirmity  of  men,  are  overruled 
by  God  for  the  welfare  and  promotion  of  the 
Gospel. 

That  unity  of  doctrine  and  mutual  communion 
are  sadly  interrupted,  is  undoubted :  we  have 
many  sects  in  the  land,  producing  mutual  jealou- 
sies, much  theological  disputation,  acrimonious 
altercations,  and  uncharitable  dissension.  But 
there  is  one  result  of  this  separation  which  indi- 
cates God's  hand.  The  most  vigorous  efforts  of 
our  chief  dissenting  bodies  are  not  directed  to 
proselytizing  at  home.  Missions  to  the  heathen 
and  the  conversion  of  the  nations  to  the  faith  of 
Christ  have  been  the  objects  to  which  they  have 
devoted  most  of  their  alms.  The  efforts  made  to 
evangelize  the  unconverted  nations  of  the  earth 
have  multiplied  exceedingly,  along  with  the  rise 
of  separate  bodies  amongst  us.  The  energies  of 
those  zealous  men   whose  unfortunate  prejudices 

02 


200  LECTURE  VII. 

prevent  them  from  remaining  in  communion  with 
the  Church,  have  been  directed  to  this  object  of 
Christianizing  heathen  lands,  and  the  sums  raised 
and  expended  on  this  important  object  are  surely 
far  larger  than  they  would  have  been,  had  we 
remained  a  united  Church  without  schism  at  our 
doors.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  main- 
taining that  all  that  is  done,  is  well  done ;  but 
Christ  is  preached,  and  using  the  words  of 
S.  Paul,  'Though  some  preach  Christ  of  envy 
and  strife,  and  some  of  good  will,  notwithstand- 
ing every  way  Christ  is  preached,  and  therein 
I  do  rejoice,  yea,  and  will  rejoice.'  I  cannot  but 
think  that  our  sins  have  been  turned  by  God  to 
the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  and  that  which  is 
in  itself  a  calamity,  has  by  divine  supervision  and 
through  the  divine  counsels,  resulted  in  the  ejreater 
abundance  of  exertion  for  carrying  the  news  of 
salvation  into  the  dark  regions  of  paganism. 
I  might  also  notice  instances  in  which  the  neglected 
inhabitants  of  our  own  land,  have  by  this  same 
agency  been  rescued  from  ignorance  of  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  the  Gospel ;  how  irregular  and 
unauthorized  ministrations  have  yet  been  a  great 
blessing  to  some  whom  our  lack  of  service  would 
have  left  to  perish  in  ignorance  and  vice,  and  how 
these  have  reacted  upon  the  Church  to  stir  up 
her  members  to  greater  diligence  and  zeal.  And 
though  we  may  be  keenly  sensible  of  the  difficul- 
ties which  these  things  create,  yet  we  ought  not 
to  overlook  the  fact  that  there  has  been  some  of 


LECTURE  VII.  201 

the  Lord's  work  done,  where  we  omitted  to  supply 
the  means. 

In  all  these  instances  I  see  again  that  the 
misfortunes,  the  neglect,  the  errors  of  the  Church 
which  in  reality  were  losses  and  sufferings  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  have  yet  been  by  an  Almighty 
hand,  overruled  for  good.  The  promotion  of  God's 
kingdom  in  the  hearts  of  men  is  not  frustrated  by 
our  supineness  and  want  of  energy;  our  sins  shall 
bring  us  into  dangers  and  difficulties,  but  these 
afflictions  eventually  result  in  the  furtherance  of 
the  Gospel.  God's  holy  name  is  proclaimed. 
The  kingdom  of  Christ  advances.  The  Church 
is  being  built  up  and  souls  gathered  into  the 
Lord's  harvest,  even  by  means  which  at  first 
threaten  impediment  and  obstruction. 

Now  considering  this  general  tendency  and 
constant  characteristic  of  the  Christian  religion, — 
that  no  disasters  can  crush  it, — no  persecution 
overwhelm  it, — no  prosperity  can  utterly  corrupt 
it, — no  schism  can  bring  its  downfall,  but  that 
misfortune  seems  to  promote  its  welfare,  and  its 
very  feebleness  turns  out  to  be  its  strength,  con- 
trary to  all  human  expectations  : — considering  its 
wonderful  powers  of  vitality,  of  expansion,  of  pro- 
gress,— there  is  no  conclusion  but  one  that  can 
explain  its  history,  and  that  is, — this  work  must 
be  of  God,  for  if  it  were  of  men,  it  would  under 
such  trials  have  come  to  nought.  The  floods  have 
arisen,  and  the  rain  has  descended,  and  the  winds 
have  blown,  and  the  stream  has  beat  vehemently 


202  LECTURE  VII. 

upon  the  house,  and  it  has  not  fallen.  Its  foun- 
dation therefore  is  the  rock.  Its  builder  and  its 
maker  is  God. 

It  is  well  to  accustom  ourselves  to  the  con- 
templation of  the  whole  Catholic  Church  as  one 
body,  not  to  narrow  our  conceptions  to  particular 
parts  of  the  Church,  as  if  Christ  were  divided. 
Paul  or  ApoUos  or  Cephas  may  be  followed  with 
undue  zeal,  and  there  may  be  greater  or  less 
purity  of  doctrine  and  practice  in  the  separate 
branches, — the  brethren  may  not  agree, — but  still 
it  is  the  great  spiritual  kingdom  which  Christ  has 
set  up  among  men.  Its  magnitude,  and  its  growth 
should  be  frequently  in  our  thoughts  to  convince 
us  of  the  Divine  origin  of  the  mighty  body  into 
which  we  have  been  engrafted.  Consider  how 
large  a  portion  of  the  earth  owns  the  lordship 
of  Christ  the  crucified.  Secure  under  its  shadow, 
we  do  not  sufficiently  refl^ect  on  the  magnitude  of 
the  vine.  The  wandering  Arabs  in  the  desert, 
familiar  with  the  sight  of  the  gigantic  structures 
of  the  Pharaohs,  think  little  of  the  vastness  of 
the  edifices,  the  solidity  of  these  stony  silent 
witnesses  of  the  past.  The  fisherman  dwelling 
near  the  sea,  and  concerned  only  with  the  outline 
of  his  own  small  bay,  does  not  think  of  the 
vastness  of  the  ocean  of  which  he  sees  but  a  part. 
So  we  are  apt  to  think  too  narrowly  of  the  vast 
kingdom  of  Christ  which  has  a  witness  in  every 
land.  The  sun  now  never  sets  on  its  emblem, 
the  Cross.    It  has  been  carried  throughout  nearly 


LECTURE  VII.  203 

the  whole  of  the  habitable  globe.  It  proclaims 
everywhere  the  war  between  the  spirit  and  the 
world.  It  is  the  badge  of  a  system  not  favouring 
men's  natural  inclinations,  bat  opposing  them.  It 
calls  them  away  from  things  of  sense  to  things 
unseen,  apprehended  by  faith,  future,  spiritual ; 
and  yet  it  succeeds,  and  all  the  more,  the  more  it 
is  opposed.  It  is  not  a  system  pandering,  like 
Mahometanism,  to  men's  passions.  It  does  not 
owe  its  advance  to  military  conquest.  It  prevails 
while  warring  upon  the  desires  of  its  own  ad- 
herents. It  gains  strength  through  hostility,  and 
is  established  through  opposition.  It  is  made 
perfect  through  sufferings.  Can  this  be  a  human 
invention?  Must  we  not  say,  'Surely  God  is  in 
this  place'? 


LECTURE  VIII. 


HEBREWS  X.  39. 

Them  that  believe  to  the  saving  of  the  soul. 

\T7HEN  we  survey  the  different  forms  which 
'  *  opposition  to  Christianity  assumes  in  the 
present  day,  we  may  clearly  discern  that  there  is 
one  feature  common  to  many — an  aversion  to  the 
binding  upon  men  belief  in  certain  doctrines  as 
essential  to  salvation.  There  is  a  deep-seated  and 
widely-spread  hostility  to  dogmatic  Christianity. 

When  faith  is  explained  only  as  a  trust  or 
confidence  in  God,  it  does  not  offend:  there  is  a 
religious  tendency  in  men's  dispositions,  which, 
even  when  ineffectual,  yet  inclines  them  to  accept 
the  reasonable  doctrine  of  trust  in  God;  but  when 
it  is  asserted  that  there  are  certain  things  most 
necessary  to  be  believed ;  credenda,  in  order  to 
comply  with  the  conditions  under  which  eternal 
life  or  happiness  is  offered  to  man ;  then  we  find 
much  opposition.  Nevertheless  the  fundamental 
condition  of  admission  to  the  blessings  of  the 
Christian  covenant,  *  to  believe  all  the  articles  of 
the  Christian  faith,'  is  one  which  must  be  main- 
tained by  those  who  will  resist  the  encroachment 
of  that  infidel  spirit  which  threatens  to  level  all 


206  LECTURE  VIII. 

that  is  positive  in  Christianity.  Sweeping  asser- 
tions and  sharp  sayings  often  have  most  effect 
upon  youthful  minds.  They  ought  to  be  put  on 
their  guard  against  disastrous  results  by  suggesting 
to  them  certain  considerations  to  act  as  antidotes  to 
the  destructive  insinuations  and  objections  which 
may  be  obtruded  upon  them  from  time  to  time. 

The  question  is,  Is  it  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  eternal  life,  or  eternal  death,  should  depend 
upon  a  man's  holding  certain  truths  or  disbeliev- 
ing them?  The  answer  is,  that  it  is  reasonable; 
considering  faith  in  both  its  aspects,  as  intellectual 
and  moral,  as  an  operation  of  the  understanding, 
and  as  an  operation  of  the  will — faith  of  the 
intellect,  faith  of  the  heart. 

The  objection  is  not  new;  it  has  prevailed  at 
all  times ;  and  this  prevalence  may  be  taken  as 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  assertion  so  often 
made  in  Holy  Scripture,  that  man's  heart  is 
hostile  to  the  Divine  influence.  The  charges  of 
credulity,  and  of  resolving  all  religion  into  a  mere 
persuasion  of  the  mind,  which  were  made  in  old 
times  by  the  enemies  of  Christianity,  presuppose 
that  persuasion  in  the  objectors  to  which  we  have 
referred,  that  to  believe  in  certain  things  could 
not  be  a  necessary  point  of  true  religion.  Now, 
in  order  to  shew  that  when  the  sacred  writer 
speaks  of  belief  to  the  saving  of  tiie  soul,  it  is  not 
unreasonable  that  this  faith  should  include  souie- 
thing  more  than  trust  or  conlidence,  we  may  con- 
sider : — 


LECTURE  VIII.  207 

1.  That  belief  in  revealed  truths  is,  in  a  cer- 
tain sense,  a  test  of  moral  disposition. 

2.  That  the  objection  is  still  farther  answered 
by  shewing  that  Christian  doctrines  are  not  barren 
tenets  terminating  in  themselves,  but  are  all  highly 
influential,  morally  and  spiritually. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  shew  that  a  revelation  is 
desirable.  No  one,  as  Paley  says,  pretends  that 
we  have  too  much  knowledge  about  things  divine 
and  spiritual.  On  the  contrary,  most  men  admit 
at  once  that  a  Divine  revelation  would  be  an 
advantage  to  mankind  ;  and  if  it  be  granted  that 
the  welfare  of  His  creatures  must  be  agreeable  to 
the  will  of  the  Creator,  it  is  then  probable  that  He 
would  grant  them  revelation  of  such  things,  un- 
known to  them,  as  should  conduce  to  their  welfare; 
and  confirmation  of  such  things  also  as  they  could 
only  find  out  with  an  uncertain  probability.  It 
seems  reasonable  that  when  such  a  revelation 
is  made,  the  things  revealed  should  be  in  great 
degree  of  a  high  spiritual  nature,  and  sometimes 
not  immediately  commanding  men's  assent  to  their 
truth.  It  seems  reasonable  that  in  such  a  case, 
men  should  be  accounted  obedient  or  disobedient 
according  as  they  believe  or  disbelieve  what  God 
has  revealed. 

The  more  intelligent  statement  of  the  objection 
would  now  be  as  follows :  Can  there  be  any 
moral  excellence  in  believing  that  which  is  pro- 
pounded on  sufficient  testimony,  or  anything  of 
moral  turpitude,   in    disbelieving    that   which   is 


208  LECTURE  VIII. 

propounded  on  insufficient  testimony?  If  it  be 
made  apparent  to  a  man's  understanding  that  cer- 
tain truths  have  been  attested  by  a  Divine  testi- 
mony, he  cannot  help  believing  them ;  but  if  it 
cannot  be  made  apparent  to  him  that  God  has 
revealed  them,  he  cannot  incur  any  moral  guilt  by 
withholding  his  assent. 

The  fallacy  in  such  a  statement  lies  in  the 
words  'on  sufficient  testimony,'  and  'be  made 
apparent  to  man's  understanding.'  There  is  no 
doubt  that  it  would  be  a  pardonable  infirmity 
in  a  man  whose  mind  was  so  constituted  that 
he  could  not  understand  a  mathematical  demon- 
stration :  in  such  cases  there  is  no  room  for  faith 
or  belief,  a  geometrical  proposition  is  either  known 
or  not  known :  it  is  an  object  of  Science,  not  of 
Faith ;  but  moral  evidence  admits  of  degrees, 
which  the  other  does  not.  '  Sufficient  testimony ' 
implies  in  the  very  term  that  it  admits  of  greater 
or  less,  and  the  sufficiency  of  the  testimony  de- 
pends on  the  qualities  of  the  mind  to  which  it 
is  presented.  Its  adequacy  must  depend  on  the 
amount  of  opposite  prejudice  or  resistance  with 
which  it  meets.  The  will  acting  on  the  under- 
standing may  prevail  to  oppose  convictions  of 
truths  depending  on  moral  evidence,  or  probable 
evidence ;  and  it  is  clear  that  where  the  will  is 
concerned,  there  may  be  moral  qualities  involved 
in  assent  or  dissent.  In  a  Divine  revelation,  there 
may  be  truths  contained  which  clash  with  pre- 
conceived   notions,    which    ai)pear   to    contradict 


LECTURE  VIII.  209 

generally  received  conclusions,  and  then  the  man 
who  hesitates  about  believing  will  not  perhaps 
reject  them  absolutely,  but  may  set  about  dimin- 
ishing, explaining,  accommodating,  or  frittering 
away  the  truths  at  which  his  mind  stumbles. 

The  degree  in  which  he  can  succeed  in  this 
attempt  must  depend  very  much  on  the  conduct 
of  the  understanding,  before  he  comes  to  the  in- 
vestigation of  revealed  truths;  and  this  conduct 
of  the  understanding  is  the  result  of  the  action  of 
the  will  upon  its  powers  and  its  qualities.  So  that 
belief  in  revealed  truths  or  doctrinal  deductions, 
and  the  degree  in  which  things  hard  to  be  under- 
stood can  be  apprehended  by  the  understanding, 
are  results  in  a  certain  degree  of  the  action  of  the 
will  on  the  faculties,  and  in  this  light,  and  as  far 
as  it  is  concerned,  the  objection  falls  to  the  ground. 

If  it  were  written  on  the  sky  in  letters  of  fire  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  God,  there  could  be  no  discussion 
of  the  doctrine.  It  would  not  be  a  matter  of  faith 
or  belief,  but  of  certain  absolute  knowledge,  quite 
as  much  as  that  there  is  a  sun  in  the  firmament; 
but  if  this  truth  is  to  be  deduced  from  records  and 
from  testimony  of  man  by  reasonings  and  interpre- 
tations, there  is  room  left  for  an  exercise  of  the 
faculties  in  which  they  are  influenced  by  the  will. 
Men  may  argue  that  the  record  is  not  sufficiently 
clear  to  them,  or  the  testimony  not  trustworthy, 
and  if  they  have  resolved  that  the  proposition  is 
one  which  seems  to  contradict  their  reason,  the 
result  of  the  investigation  will  be  according  to  the 


210  LECTURE  VIII. 

pliancy  or  obstinacy  of  theii*  minds.  Even  in  the 
apprehension  of  mathematical  truths,  those  who 
have  been  much  engaged  in  education  know  how 
wonderfully  different  are  the  capacities  of  different 
persons  for  arriving  at  conclusions;  their  powers  of 
assent  to  strictly  logical  reasonings  which  have 
been  settled  by  a  series  of  powerful  understandings, 
are  extremely  various  in  degree,  and  yet  the 
variety  partakes  in  many  cases  of  a  general  cha- 
racter, so  that  we  cannot  but  conclude  that  the 
will  may  have  somewhat  to  do  with  the  disability. 
And  if  in  such  a  case  there  be  room  for  this 
influence,  there  is  much  more  scope  for  it  when 
the  steps  of  the  deduction  are  by  analogies  and 
probabilities  rather  than  by  a  closely  woven  chain 
of  syllogisms. 

The  scriptural  expression  of  this  tendency  in 
man  is  the  depravation  of  the  faculties  since  the 
fall ;  that  the  spirit  of  God  strives  with  men,  not 
irresistibly,  but  so  that  there  should  be  room  left 
for  choice :  according  as  the  understanding  is 
swayed  by  the  corrupt  will,  so  is  the  capacity  for 
believing  things  divine.  Our  Lord's  testimony  to 
the  Pharisees  was,  '  Ye  will  not  come  to  me,  that 
ye  might  have  life.'  While  they  urged  that  they 
wanted  signs,  and  wished  to  know  \vhat  was 
Christ's  authority,  he  refused  them  because  of 
their  unwillingness  to  come  to  him.  'What  sign 
shewest  thou  that  thou  doest  such  things?  and 
who  gave  thee  this  authority?'  do  not  seem  un- 
reasonable demands.  But  the  reply  of  our  Saviour 


LECTURE  VIII.  211 

shews  us  that  He  considered  there  was  already 
sufficient  answer  given,  though  they  craved  more. 
He  knew  that  their  wills  were  against  believing 
on  Him :  and  open  proofs  will  not  convince  such 
men.  '  If  ye  believe  not  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
neither  will  ye  believe  though  one  rose  from  the 
dead.'  And  we  have  a  remarkable  instance  re- 
corded of  the  truth  of  these  very  words ;  for  when 
Christ  had  raised  Lazarus,  of  whose  death  they 
had  had  full  certainty,  some  of  them  went  their 
way  to  the  Pharisees,  to  give  information  to  them, 
and  they  consulted  '  that  they  might  put  Lazarus 
also  to  death,  because  that  by  reason  of  him,  many 
of  the  Jews  went  away  and  believed  on  Jesus.' 

In  the  valuable  contributions  made  of  late 
years  to  the  theory  of  Education,  it  has  been  sug- 
gested as  a  matter  of  consideration  whether  that 
training  of  the  faculties  which  is  best  promoted  by 
the  study  of  the  Natural  Sciences  has  received 
sufficient  attention.  It  has  been  shewn  that  there 
is  in  these  subjects  a  method  of  establishing  con- 
clusions abundantly  sufficient  to  sway  the  judgment, 
but  yet  of  a  different  kind  to  that  which  is  em- 
ployed in  Mathematical  Subjects  strictly  so  called. 
I  think  it  important  that  this  should  be  viewed  in 
connection  with  Religion.  The  reasoning  by  which 
many  religious  truths  are  established  partakes 
often  of  the  same  character.  And  when  it  has  been 
asserted,  as  shewing  the  unsoundness  of  the  argu- 
ments by  which  the  Christian  faith  is  support- 
ed, that  many  of  those  who  have  attained  high 


212  LECTURE  VIII. 

positions  in  science  have  been  unbelievers,  it  may 
well  be  answered  that  perhaps  these  persons  have 
required  proofs  of  a  different  kind  to  what  they  had 
any  right  to  expect;  and  have  thus  failed  to  believe, 
because  they  were  unprepared  to  follow  a  different 
method  of  reasoning — one  which,  quite  as  much 
as  accurate  logical  deduction  from  simple  propo- 
sitions, was  deserving  of  attention,  and  abundantly 
sufficient  for  the  purpose  to  which  it  is  applied. 

If,  as  has  been  observed  in  a  work  well  known 
amongst  us — if  there  be  certain  prejudices  which 
arise  from  cultivating  the  intellect  by  means  of 
mathematics  too  exclusively' — I  fear  that  in  the 
case  of  one  who  doubted  of  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  was  endeavouring  to  satisfy  himself 
of  its  evidences,  they  would  be  very  much  felt. 
It  must  have  been  from  such  a  persuasion  too 
that  Butler  conceived  that  the  argument  from 
analogy  would  be  useful,  as  it  indeed  proved 
itself  to  be  in  his  skilful  hands.  A  mind  accus- 
tomed to  this  method  of  argument  must  receive 
considerable  satisfaction  from  the  study  of  such 
an  author,  especially  when  the  object  is  to  re- 
move objections  to  revealed  doctrines  which  can- 
not be  satisfactorily  met  by  direct  logical  sequences 
from  universally  admitted  premises.  Now  the 
influence  which  such  a  method  can  obtain  over 
men's  judgments  depends  in  a  great  degree  upon 
their  moral  disposition.  The  force  of  an  analogy 
is   according   to    the    freshness,    the  candour    of 

*  "VVliewell,  Philosophy  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,  Vol.  i.  xliii. 


LECTURE  VIII.  213 

the  enquirer.  It  sways  more  or  less  according 
as  the  man's  mind  is  less  or  more  warped  by 
prejudice,  according  to  his  moral  ^^o?:  and  if 
this  be  granted,  then  we  think  it  goes  a  very  long 
way  to  contradict  the  objection  that  believing  and 
disbelieving  are  unconnected  with  moral  qualifi- 
cations. If  the  testimony  to  revealed  truths  be 
sufficient,  generally  speaking,  that  is,  if  there  be 
reasonable  grounds  for  conclusions,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  a  large  number  of  ordinarily  competent 
persons,  this  secures  us  against  any  objection 
which  can  be  made  generally.  And  at  the  same 
time  it  gives  scope  to  a  moral  use  of  the  faculties. 
Strong  probable  evidence  ought  to  convince  man- 
kind. Yet  inasmuch  as  it  leaves  room  for  choice, 
it  seems  exactly  suited  to  the  object  of  moral  pro- 
bation. The  rejection  or  acceptance  of  the  truths 
so  propounded,  becomes  a  test  of  the  disposition 
of  the  will.  Acceptance  of  difficult  truths  on  the 
authority  of  Divine  revelation,  testified  by  evidence 
generally  sufficient,  shews  that  there  has  been  a 
desire  to  progress  in  spiritual  things.  Rejection 
shews  that  the  judgment  is  perverted,  or  party- 
coloured,  or  resolutely  tends  in  a  direction  different 
to  that  in  which  the  evidence  was  calculated  to 
have  weight. 

If  there  are  some  persons  whose  judgments  are 
essentially  not  convincible  by  that  ordinary  evi- 
dence which  is  sufficient  to  sway  others,  each  man 
would  require  a  revelation  specially  to  himself. 
Now  are  we  not  to  expect  that  in  this  case,  God 

H.  L.  P 


214  LECTURE  VIII. 

would  act  on  the  usual  plan  of  Divine  government 
— ^viz.  by  general  laws  ?  And,  therefore,  there  must 
be  degrees  in  which  a  man  assents  to  certain  truths 
coming  to  him  with  a  claim  to  belief.  We  can 
resist  evidence  of  the  kind  proffered,  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree.  Willingness  to  believe  is  an  ingre- 
dient in  the  mental  process  by  which  conclusions 
of  this  kind  are  arrived  at.  And,  therefore,  faith 
in  things  revealed  is  a  test  of  the  disposition  of 
men's  minds,  and  ultimately  of  moral  tendencies. 

I  ought  not  to  leave  this  argument  without 
repudiating  that  view  of  the  testimony  to  Divine 
truths,  which  some  have  advanced,  viz.  that  it  is 
only  of  a  general  probable  kind.  I  have  been 
obliged,  in  urging  the  reasons  for  considering  the 
morality  of  faith,  to  take  up  the  objection  as  it  is 
put  by  opponents ;  but  having  already  on  other 
occasions  endeavoured  to  maintain  the  infallible 
testimony  of  miracles,  and  to  reassert  and  estab- 
lish the  grounds  of  belief  which  so  many  defenders 
of  religion  have  in  old  time  put  forward,  I  need 
not  do  more  on  the  present  occasion  than  reiterate 
the  persuasion  which  I  entertain,  and  would  earn- 
estly inculcate  on  others.  Though  it  is  true  that 
the  evidence  is  not  a  mathematical  demonstration 
now  to  us,  yet  we  have  the  very  highest  probability. 
In  fact  the  certainty  (as  we  may  well  call  it,)  of 
the  truth  of  Christianity  in  its  external  character  is 
such  that  its  opponents  are  rarely  found.  Its  real 
and  dangerous  enemies  are  those  who  allow  the 
exterior  walls  to  be  strong  and  valid,  but  labour  to 


LECTURE  VIII.  215 

corrupt  its  internal  character.  For  belief  in  revela- 
tion and  revealed  truths,  they  profess  the  greatest 
possible  reverence;  but  in  their  faithless  hands  the 
revealed  truth  becomes  a  nonentity,  and  within  the 
walls  of  the  fortress  they  fritter  away  the  terms  of 
allegiance  till  they  have  no  meaning.  If  urged 
with  the  fact  of  the  constant  proclamation  of  the 
necessity  of  faith,  they  resolve  it  into  trust  in  God 
only;  and,  therefore,  in  controversy  with  such 
opponents  as  these,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  remem- 
ber that  belief  in  certain  doctrines,  to  which  their 
system  is  abhorrent,  is  yet  capable  of  defence  on 
general  grounds,  antecedent  to  the  consideration  of 
the  express  command,  and  does  not  involve  any 
such  difficulty  as  has  been  alleged  against  it. 

But  there  remains  yet  another  very  important 
view  in  which  this  subject  should  be  considered. 
Belief  in  certain  doctrines,  though  it  may  be  main- 
tained as  necessary  to  shew  obedience  to  the  will 
of  God  as  a  mere  abstract  faith,  is  yet  really  in 
Christianity  of  a  very  different  kind. 

The  requirement  of  belief  in  certain  proposi- 
tions does  not  in  reality  arise  mainly  from  this 
consideration,  but  because  the  propositions  them- 
selves have  certain  definite  ends  in  view.  '  Ex- 
cepting,' says  Bp  Taylor^  'that  it  acknowledges 
God's  veracity,  and  so  is  a  direct  act  of  religion, 
believing  a  revealed  proposition  hath  no  excellency 
in  itself,  but  in  order  to  that  eiid  for  which  we  are 
instructed  in  such  revelations.'    That  end  is  that 

^  Liberty  of  Prophesying. 

P2 


216  LECTURE  VIII. 

we  should  be  brought  to  God.  Born  again  and 
adopted  as  sons  of  God,  we  are  to  be  sanctified,  or 
made  holy,  in  order  that  we  may  be  meet  to  be 
partakers  of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints. 

Christianity  assumes  that  man  is  of  himself 
unable  to  be  saved,  and  provides  a  salvation  for 
him.  In  requiring  of  him  faith  as  the  primary 
condition  under  which  he  may  become  a  subject 
of  God's  grace  in  Christ,  it  is  provided  that  the 
doctrines  which  he  is  called  upon  to  believe  are  all 
intimately  related  to  the  great  work  of  redemption, 
and  the  salvation  of  the  individual  man — and 
especially  is  this  true  of  those  doctrines  at  which 
men  stumble  in  God's  word.  The  Incarnation  and 
the  Atonement,  the  personal  agency  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  the  Resurrection — all  these  are  doc- 
trines on  which  hang  the  substance  of  Christianity. 
When  conscience- stricken  with  thoughts  of  the 
numberless  ways  in  which  we  have  offended  our 
Almighty  Father,  in  thought,  and  word,  and  deed, 
how  can  we  hope  for  forgiveness,  unless  there 
should  be  some  mediator  between  us,  who  will 
ward  off  from  us  the  justly  deserved  punishment  of 
our  sins?  How  can  such  a  mediator  be  cognizant 
of  the  weakness  and  frailty  of  flesh  and  blood,  how 
can  he  sympathize  with  us,  and  how  could  he  leave 
us  an  example  that  we  may  know  how  we  ought 
to  walk  and  to  please  God,  except  he  were  man,  of 
like  nature  with  ourselves  ?  And  how  can  a  man 
bring  us  near  to  God,  since  no  man  can  make  an 
agreement  unto  God  for  his  brother,  having  his 


LECTURE  VIII.  217 

own  imperfections  to  overcome ;  how  can  any  one 
exalt  human  nature  to  a  higher  scale  of  being, 
unless  he  be  himself  above  it ;  and  since  we  are 
promised  that  we  shall  be  partakers  of  the  Divine 
nature',  who  but  God  could  have  bestowed  such  a 
gift?  Then  how  are  we  now  to  be  brought  into 
the  perfect  state  to  which  we  are  tending  ?  Can 
ought  but  a  Divine  agency  effect  this  ?  Must  not 
our  Paraclete  be  Divine,  as  well  as  our  Mediator 
and  Pattern  ?  And  then  to  what  kind  of  life  are 
we  destined — a  merely  spiritual  life,  in  which  our 
faculties  would  be  different  to  what  they  now  are, 
and  our  persuasion  of  its  reality  dim  and  indistinct? 
Will  our  redemption  be  complete  unless  we  are  set 
free  from  the  bondage  of  mortality  ?  By  such 
questions  passing  through  the  mind,  we  become 
convinced  that  even  though  they  be  mysterious, 
difficult,  and  requiring  considerable  effort  on  the 
part  of  man  to  believe  them,  as  abstract  truths,  yet 
the  doctrines  I  have  mentioned  are  connected  as 
closely  as  possible  with  the  hopes  and  aspirations 
of  Christian  men.  They  all  involve  deep  principle, 
they  lie  at  the  root  of  our  religion,  and  they  are 
required  of  men  to  be  believed  because  of  this 
their  intimate  relation  to  the  practical,  spiritual 
needs  of  mankind.  A  dry  assent  to  a  scholastic 
definition  is  not  a  fit  subject  of  comparison  with 
belief  in  truths  like  these.  And  though  we  have 
said  that  the  condition  of  believing  in  any  abstract 
proposition  which  comes  to  us  depending  on  Divine 

1  2  Pet.  i.  4. 


218  LECTURE  VIII. 

testimony  to  its  truth,  is  not  an  unfitting  trial  of 
man's  willing  obedience,  yet  such  a  condition  of 
salvation  is  as  far  removed  as  possible  from  the 
essential  and  fundamental  conditions  under  which 
salvation  is  actually  offered  to  man  in  the  Gospel. 
Their  object  is  not  at  all  to  try  men's  patience  by 
strivings  about  things  to  no  profit.  When  difiicult, 
it  is  because  of  the  inherent  difficulty  of  the  case. 
To  bring  a  sinful  world  into  a  state  of  reconciliation 
w^ith  God,  and  change  it  into  a  holy  brotherhood, 
is  no  such  easy  matter,  due  regard  being  had  that 
none  of  God's  attributes  shall  be  offended,  that  all 
His  promises  and  threatenings  shall  stand,  that  He 
shall  be  a  God  punishing  iniquity,  transgression, 
and  sin,  a  God  that  will  by  no  means  clear  the 
guilty,  and  yet  a  God  delighting  in  mercy  and 
longsuffering,  a  God  pardoning  iniquity,  and  a 
God  who  will  wash  away  the  sins  of  the  ungodly. 
That  in  the  carrying  out  and  completing  of  the 
great  work  of  redemption,  wonderful  mysteries 
should  have  to  be  accomplished,  cannot  be  matter 
of  surprise  to  any  one  who  will  consider  all  the 
depths  of  the  subject.  If  intelligent  obedience, 
and  purity,  and  complete  self-surrender,  are  to  be 
wrought  in  the  wilfully  sinful,  the  impure,  and  the 
selfish,  the  means  thereto  must  be  wonderful ;  and 
the  demand  made  upon  mankind  is  not  unreason- 
able, that  they  should  believe  in  the  truth  of  what 
God  reveals  to  them  in  this  matter.  When  we 
add  thereto  that  all  the  hard  things  which  are  the 
objects   of  faith,   are   absolutely   and   intimately 


LECTURE  VIII.  219 

bound  up  with  the  actual  working  out  of  the 
scheme,  and  its  efficient  application  to  the  case  of 
each  Christian — then  it  is  no  longer  in  the  least 
degree  subject  of  marvel,  that  belief  in  these  things 
should  be  commanded,  and  made  the  watchword 
or  symbol  of  the  disciple.  Belief  to  the  saving  of 
the  soul,  so  far  from  being  subject  of  difficulty,  be- 
comes the  most  reasonable  of  doctrines,  because  to 
return  to  God  we  must  be  prepared  to  hear  Him, 
and  to  follow  where  He  points  out  the  road  of  our 
return. 

These  considerations  seem  to  me  well  qualified 
to  obviate  the  difficulty  which  men  have  felt  in 
receiving  the  doctrine  of  faith. 

The  evidence  being  generally  sufficient,  the 
belief  or  disbelief  is  according  to  the  action  of  the 
will  upon  the  judgment,  and  therefore  is  not  an 
improper  test  of  a  man's  general  disposition. 

And  the  doctrines  in  which  belief  is  required 
are  not  mere  trials  of  men's  disposition,  but  they 
relate  in  all  cases  to  practical  Christianity.  They 
are  necessary  to  the  full  understanding  and  realiz- 
ing of  its  method. 

I  pass  on  to  a  kindred  subject,  of  consider- 
able importance,  especially  when  we  have  regard 
to  the  audience  before  w^hom  these  Lectures  are 
delivered. 

If  faith  is  established  most  easily  in  minds  that 
have  had  the  largest  and  most  comprehensive  train- 
ing, if  there  are  moral  qualities  in  faith,  arising 
out  of  the  conduct  of  the  understanding,  these  facts 


220  LECTURE  VIII. 

must  be  matters  of  very  serious  import  in  a  place 
of  education. 

Not  only  have  we  had  instances  of  men  so 
hardened  in  understanding  as  to  be  incapable  of 
receiving  any  but  mathematical  proof,  and  there- 
fore making  shipwreck  of  the  faith — we  have  also 
seen  a  large  class  of  persons  lately  led  to  leave 
the  Church  for  the  Roman  schism,  whose  judg- 
ments were  logic-bound,  and  who  have  become 
complete  slaves  to  the  conclusions  they  could  draw 
from  their  premises  syllogistically,  because  they 
could  not  take  more  comprehensive  views,  and 
views  more  consistent  with  the  moral  and  spiritual 
laws  which  govern  mankind,  and  which  refuse  to 
be  bound  by  the  chains  of  a  scholastic  discipline. 
In  both  cases  the  judgment  has  not  been  free  but 
constrained. 

Intellectual  habits  are  formed  by  intellectual 
processes  reacting  on  the  judgment,  and  then  the 
conclusions  arrived  at  are  one-sided.  To  preserve 
the  power  of  free  judgment  must  be  an  object  to 
be  aimed  at,  and  the  possession  of  such  a  blessing 
is  not  to  be  secured  without  diligent  care  .and  con- 
stant vigilance.  We  ought  to  watch  in  ourselves 
the  ultimate  as  well  as  the  proximate  results  of 
mental  processes.  The  conduct  of  the  understand- 
ing is  a  matter  of  vast  importance,  on  it  depends 
no  less  than  the  capacity  for  apprehending  the 
objects  of  faith.  It  must  be  attended  to  with  the 
utmost  care.  Holy  Scripture  compares  the  under- 
standing to  the  eye.    'The  light  of  the  body  is  the 


LECTURE  VIII.  221 

eye.  If  therefore  thine  eye  be  single,  thy  whole 
body  shall  be  full  of  light ;  but  if  thine  eye  be  evil, 
thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  darkness.' 

The  eye,  the  instrument  by  which  light  acts 
upon  the  mind,  is  the  human  understanding.  Christ 
himself  as  revealed  in  the  Gospel  is  the  light  of  the 
world.  The  action  of  this  Divine  light  upon  the 
soul  is  different  in  different  persons,  not  from  any 
variation  in  the  external  brightness,  but  from  the 
qualities  of  the  eye  or  instrument.  '  If  thine  eye 
be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light,'  i.e. 
if  the  understanding  be  clear,  unwarped  by  preju- 
dices, candid,  open  to  impression  in  the  way  that 
the  influence  tends,  many-sided,  then  the  flood  of 
Divine  light  passes  inwards  and  illuminates  the 
soul  with  its  full  radiance;  things  are  seen  in  their 
true  colour,  all  parts  are  seen  and  at  their  proper 
distance  and  in  their  proper  proportion ;  the  image 
of  God  is  imprinted  on  the  soul,  and  it  is  a  true 
image,  and  not  one  distorted,  dim,  perplexed,  and 
out  of  proportion.  Such  a  man  learns  the  true 
will  of  God,  because  he  offers  of  his  own  accord  no 
impediment  to  the  Divine  illumination.  He  is 
transformed  by  the  full  power  of  that  light  which 
is  meant  for  the  enlightenment  of  all  men.  '  But 
if  thine  eye  be  evil,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full 
of  darkness:'  the  eye  which  is  defective,  and  there- 
fore transmits  false  impressions  to  the  judgment,  is 
like  the  perverted,  vitiated,  debilitated  understand- 
ing, whose  conclusions  are  erroneous  while  consci- 
entious.    Sometimes  the  eye  will   get  impressed 


222  LECTURE  VIII. 

with  one  particular  colour  till  it  can  recognize 
none  but  that  colour  and  its  complementary  co- 
lour. So  is  the  understanding  influenced,  when 
it  forces  all  conclusions  to  a  state  of  subserviency 
to  one  foregone  conclusion,  or  to  a  direct  antago- 
nism with  it.  The  eye  which  represents  external 
objects  distorted,  is  like  the  understanding  which 
is  tortuous,  perplexed,  crooked,  and  perverse,  which 
ever  sees  a  fallacy  where  there  is  none,  and  refuses 
to  see  an  acknowledged  flaw,  which  dwells  ever 
upon  a  refuted  objection,  which  always  bends  all 
arguments  one  way,  will  only  estimate  at  one  value, 
will  always  impart  to  every  view  a  twist  of  its  own 
supplying.  The  eye  which  has  a  dim  image  is  like 
the  softened  and  enervated  understanding,  which 
can  never  arrive  at  a  conclusion,  which  mistrusts 
all  that  it  fancies  it  approves,  and  has  a  tender 
anxious  misgiving  for  all  that  it  fancies  it  con- 
demns. It  is  always  wavering,  doubting,  depend- 
ing on  others,  helpless,  halting,  inconclusive. 

I  might  follow  out  the  simile  with  minuteness 
into  many  other  particulars.  It  has  always  seemed 
to  me  one  of  the  most  remarkable  which  the  Scrip- 
tures have  given  us ;  but  it  is  sufficient  to  indicate 
it  to  rouse  up  in  most  men's  minds  a  conviction  of 
the  aptitude  of  the  comparison.  Now  the  culture, 
management,  tending  of  the  understanding, — the 
great  business  of  education, — will  have  a  most 
important  influence  on  the  faith  of  the  individual, 
when  he  comes  to  argue  with  himself  of  the  grounds 
of  his  belief.     And  as  this  belief  involves  'savins: 


LECTURE  VIII.  223 

of  the  soul/  it  is  important  that  the  faculties  by 
which  faith  is  to  be  wrought  in  us,  should  be  in 
their  perfect  state.  Having  said  enough  already 
about  mental  qualities,  I  ought  before  leaving  this, 
to  add  a  word  of  caution  as  to  moral  habits,  as  they 
have  an  important  influence  on  the  understanding. 
The  whole  testimony  of  mankind  is  in  one  direc- 
tion on  the  first  point,  that  sensuality — the  giving 
way  to  the  baser  passions  of  humanity — tends  di- 
rectly to  the  deterioration  of  the  faculty  of  judging. 
Indulgence  acts  on  the  mind  as  it  does  on  the 
body.  It  enervates,  softens,  degrades,  and  de- 
stroys. The  coarser  elements  of  human  nature, 
when  encouraged  and  pampered,  absorb  the  energy 
which  would  have  produced  a  vigorous,  severe, 
noble,  and  fruitful  intellect.  Even  though  the 
powers  of  some  men,  mental  and  corporeal,  may 
seem  to  withstand  the  assaults  which  they  permit 
their  passions  to  make  upon  their  nobler  qualities, 
yet  we  may  be  well  assured,  that  no  natural  laws 
of  God  can  be  infringed :  damage  and  loss  must 
result  from  such  treatment.  We  must  all  be  held 
guilty  for  the  degree  in  which  we  fall  short  of  that 
vigour  of  mind  which  we  might  have  attained,  if 
we  had  not  frittered  away  our  powers,  and  debased 
our  standard :  not  what  we  are,  compared  with 
others,  but  what  we  are,  compared  with  what  we 
might  have  been,  if  we  had  not  of  our  own  selves 
frustrated  God's  great  work  within  us,  and  stunted 
its  growth,  must  be  the  measure  of  our  culpability. 
The  vigour  and  tenacity  with  which  we  embrace 


224  LECTURE  VIII. 

the  truth  will  be  according  to  our  mental  powers, 
but  according  to  our  mental  powers,  such  as  we 
have  made  them,  and  not  as  God  gave  them  to  us 
in  germ.  If  we  have  enfeebled  them,  so  that  they 
cannot  grasp  the  objects  of  faith,  on  us  must  be 
the  penalty,  justly  awarded,  because  the  talent 
committed  to  us  has  not  been  put  out  to  usury,  but 
squandered  in  the  service  of  Satan  instead  of  the 
service  of  God. 

Nearly  as  fatal  to  the  quality  of  the  under- 
standing is  indolence.  The  position  of  a  student 
in  the  university  at  the  commencement  of  his  ca- 
reer, is  full  of  temptation  of  various  kinds,  but 
especially  of  temptation  to  indolence. 

Its  effect  again  upon  the  intellect  is  like  its 
effect  upon  the  body  :  it  enervates.  There  is  also 
danger  that  in  neglect  of  the  studies  and  pursuits 
of  the  place,  if  the  evil  passions  do  not  obtain  the 
mastery,  the  imagination  may  yet  be  more  deve- 
loped than  the  reasoning  faculties,  and  this  is  an 
evil  to  be  deprecated.  A  luxuriant  imagination, 
kept  in  check  by  no  bonds  of  severe  reason,  is  a 
source  of  many  dangers.  It  is  hostile  to  the  form- 
ation of  a  keen,  piercing,  subtle,  and  critical  judg- 
ment. It  sways  decisions  by  other  motives  than 
those  of  sound  reason.  It  places  a  man  in  a  dan- 
gerous position,  if  ever  the  tempter  should  suggest 
thoughts  of  infidelity  or  of  schism. 

The  development  and  guidance  of  the  mental 
powers  of  the  young  is  a  trust  of  awful  importance, 
and  when  men  are  meditating  on  changes  in  the 


LECTURE  VIII.  225 

system,  they  ought  to  be  mindful  of  the  weighty 
charge  they  undertake.  If  such  alterations  be 
carried  out  with  any  other  motive  than  a  pure  and 
honest  desire  to  produce  something  better,  higher, 
and  more  Christian  in  its  tendency,  we  may  be 
sure  that  a  very  deep  and  grievous  responsibility 
will  be  incurred.  It  is  no  light  matter  to  meddle 
with  systems  of  such  extensive  influence.  May 
God  grant  that  in  all  changes  the  really  import- 
ant end  may  be  kept  in  view,  that  all  who  are 
intrusted  to  the  teaching  of  this  seat  of  sound 
learning  and  religious  education  may  be  more 
and  more  influenced  for  their  good  in  the  high- 
est sense,  i.  e.  may  be  prepared  to  be  intelligent, 
honest,  and  conscientious  Christians. 

Lastly,  we  may  notice  that  belief  in  certain 
revealed  propositions,  because  they  are  taught  us 
by  God,  is  also  an  operation  of  faith  viewed  in  its 
other  capacity,  viz.  as  trust  or  confidence  in  God. 
Under  both  its  aspects,  it  is  concerned  in  the  pro- 
duction of  '  belief  to  the  saving  of  the  soul.' 

Now  there  is  something  in  faith,  trust,  or 
confidence  in  God,  which  renders  it  peculiarly  fit 
to  be  the  condition  of  salvation.  In  most  other 
virtues  there  is  a  mixture  of  some  selfish  feeling, 
or  at  any  rate  a  feeling  of  self-love.  In  faith  there 
is  nothing  of  this  alloy.  It  is  a  casting  away  of 
self,  to  repose  entirely  upon  God.  In  this  complete 
confidence  and  reliance  on  God,  there  is  humility, 
diffidence,  acknowledgment  of  helplessness,  gene- 
rous self-abasement — a  childlike  clino-inor  to  the 


226  LECTURE  VIII. 

One  greater,  mightier,  and  wiser — complete  sub- 
mission. 

It  is  well  worth  our  meditation  to  consider  thus 
the  excellency  of  faith  :  '  Faith  is  the  parent  of 
charity ;  and  whatsoever  faith  entertains  must  be 
apt  to  produce  love  to  God^'  In  its  highest  sense  it 
developes  itself  into  charity,  the  greatest  of  Chris- 
tian graces;  because  a  thorough  trust  and  confi- 
dence in  one  who  is  incapable  of  deceiving  us,  or 
failing  us  through  weakness,  leads  immediately  to 
the  love  of  God,  which  is  to  be  the  surviving,  never- 
ending  Christian  grace. 

As  deference  and  submission  to  earthly  parents 
on  the  part  of  children  is  natural  and  pleasing,  and 
must  be  secured  in  order  to  influence  them  for 
their  good,  and  as  this  is  always  intimately  con- 
nected with  affection  and  veneration,  so  must  the 
same  law  prevail  in  matters  spiritual  and  religious. 
If  we  would  be  the  children  of  God,  we  must  have 
deference,  submission,  trust,  confidence  in  God. 
There  can  be  no  recognition  of  God  as  our  Father, 
unless  we  have  this  faith.  Christ  gives  us  an  ex- 
ample of  the  practical  effect  of  faith,  when  he 
submitted  Himself  to  the  will  of  the  Father  in  all 
things.  '  I  came  not  to  do  mine  own  will,  but  the 
will  of  Him  that  sent  me.'  Our  mission  is  similar 
— we  are  to  seek  to  thwart  our  own  wills  in  order 
to  follow  the  will  of  God.  And  the  great  work 
which  we  have  to  do,  in  accordance  with  His 
revealed  will,  is  to  believe.     'This  is  the  will  of 

^  Jcr.  Taylor,  Holy  Limng. 


LECTURE  VIII.  227 

Him  that  sent  me,  that  every  one  which  seeth  the 
Son,  and  believeth  on  Him,  may  have  everlasting 
life,  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day.' 

Let  us  then  take  heed  that  we  cultivate  in  our- 
selves that  disposition  of  mind  which  leads  to  faith 
— that  we  zealously  strive  against  the  contrary 
disposition  which  perverts  the  powers  of  free  judg- 
ment. Let  us  approach  the  Sacred  Records  with 
desire  to  believe — desire  to  learn  the  truths  of  re- 
velation— that  we  may  embrace  them  heartily,  and 
act  upon  them.  Then  there  is  not  the  smallest 
shadow  of  doubt  that  the  striving  of  the  Spirit  will 
result  in  the  victory  which  overcometh  the  world, 
even  in  our  faith.  And  thus  we  shall  be  amongst 
those  who  believe  to  the  saving  of  the  soul. 

This  faith,  saith  Bishop  Taylor^  is  the  founda- 
tion of  a  good  life — the  foundation  of  all  our  hopes: 
it  is  that  without  which  we  cannot  live  well,  and 
without  which  we  cannot  die  well :  it  is  a  grace 
that  we  shall  tlieyi  need  to  support  our  spirits,  to 
sustain  our  hopes,  to  alleviate  our  sickness,  to  resist 
temptation,  to  prevent  despair.  Upon  the  belief 
of  the  Articles  of  our  Religion  we  can  do  the  works 
of  a  holy  life — upon  belief  of  the  promises  we  can 
bear  sickness  patiently,  and  die  cheerfully. 

May  this  faith  be  wrought  in  each  one  of  us 
here  present,  by  the  grace  of  God,  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord. 

^  Holy  Dying. 


CAMBRIDGE  : 
PRINTED    AT    THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS. 


SEEMON 


FOR 


GOOD     FEIDAY. 


Btxmm  for  iaoi  Jfrikg, 


Preached  before  the  University  on  A2»'il  14,   1854. 


S.  LUKE  XXIII.  28. 

Weep  not  for  me,   hut  lueep  for  yourselves. 

TT7"E  are  now  come  to  the  day  of  most  awful 
'  *  commemoration  in  the  Christian  Church — the 
final  consummation  and  close  of  the  Jewish  dis- 
pensation, taken  away  by  God  that  He  might 
establish  the  second  covenant — a  day  on  which 
the  marvellous  spectacle  of  the  Son  of  God  ex- 
piring on  the  cross  was  exhibited  to  angels  and 
men ;  the  public  testimony  from  on  High  against 
the  malignity  of  sin ;  a  solemn  and  severe  ex- 
ample, such  as  we  can  barely  comprehend  in  its 
deep  and  world-wide  extent ;  and  moreover,  the 
most  singular  exhibition  of  Divine  love  towards 
mankind,  that  we  so  frail,  so  sinful,  so  lost,  should 
be  ransomed  at  a  cost  so  transcendent. 

To-day  the  Church  bids  us  contemplate  the 
sufferings  of  the  '  author  and  finisher  of  our  salva- 
tion ;'  to  behold  and  see  if  there  be  any  sorrow 
like  unto  His  sorrow  ;  any  pangs  so  great  as  those 
which  the  offended  justice  of  God  exacted  from 
Him — from  Him  who  alone  could  have  borne  them. 

If  we  have  been  moved  by  the  solemn  recital 
of  Christ's  agonies,  if  our  warmer  feelings  have 

1—2 


been  called  into  action  on  this  day,  and  the  pathetic 
story  of  our  Saviour's  endurance  of  all  that  can 
be  conceived  most  painful  and  degrading  has 
made  us  feel  in  our  hearts  the  sympathetic  yearn- 
ings of  pity  and  grief,  let  us  ever  remember  that 
our  sins  brought  all  this  to  pass — our  transgres- 
sions added  bitterness  to  His  cup  of  sorrow — our 
wanderings  and  olfences  called  down  the  Divine 
wrath  on  the  devoted  head  of  the  Lamb  of  God. 

And  let  us  mourn  for  the  sad  cause  of  all  the 
woes  that  Christ  suffered ;  let  us  weep,  and  pray, 
and  humble  ourselves  in  God's  sight,  that  so  the 
work  of  salvation  may  be  accomplished  in  us,  and 
we  may  be  found  worthy  to  share  in  the  blessings 
of  the  heavenly  inheritance  which  that  precious 
sacrifice  has  earned  for  faithful  Christian  penitents. 

It  is  to  this  recognition  of  individual  unwor- 
thiness  that  the  gospel  is  pre-eminently  calculated 
to  lead  us,  and  we  will  endeavour,  with  God's 
blessing,  to  assist  you  in  your  meditations  this 
morning,  by  considering  Christ's  sorrows,  and  the 
way  in  which  we  should  ponder  over  them  ;  first, 
referring  to  some  of  the  many  ways  in  which  we 
may  regard  those  sufferings,  and  then  to  the  hu- 
man affections  which  they  ought  to  call  forth,— 
penitential  sorrow,  and  humble  gratitude. 

Few  subjects  are  so  calculated  to  affect  the 
stubborn  and  rebellious  nature  of  man  ;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  to  speak  Morthily  of  such  a  theme  is 
impossible.  Bear,  brethren,  with  the  imperfec- 
tions  of  expression    which  we    cannot   avoid  in 


speaking  of  these  great  mysteries,  and  endeavour 
to  realise  inwardly  the  fruits  of  pious  medita- 
tion, that  you  may  heartily  feel  the  deep  devo- 
tion of  the  ancient  Christian  hymn — 

Faint  and  weary  Thou  liast  sought  me, 
On  tlie  Cross  of  Suffering  bought  me, 
Shall  such  Grace  be  vainly  brought  me  ? 

Low  I  kneel  with  heart  submission. 
See,  like  ashes,  my  contrition; 
Help  me  in  my  lost  condition. 

God  '  hath  laid  on  Mm  the  iniquities  of  %is  all^ 
To  appreciate  the  weight  of  this  enormous  bur- 
den, we  must  recur  to  the  effects  produced  by 
this  infliction  of  His  Father.  '^He  suffered.''  This 
suffering  was  both  corjioreal  and  mental :  He 
suffiered  in  His  body — in  His  affections — in  His 
soul.  The  scourge,  the  nails,  the  piercing  thorns, 
produced  in  His  sacred  body  the  most  sharp  and 
painful  sensations.  The  violent  tearing  of  the 
most  sensitive  members  produced  a  deep  and 
grievous  anguish.  '  The  ploughei's  ploughed  iipon 
his  bach,  and  made  long  furrows'  Add  to  this  the 
bitterness  of  suffering,  in  the  stretching  of  his 
tender  limbs  upon  the  cross,  the  racking  aches 
which  such  a  posture  must  have  caused,  the  hard 
and  merciless  iron  entering  into  his  inmost  soul, 
exposed  for  three  long  hours S  to  the  scorching 
heat — no  transient  pangs,  but  acute  and  lingering 
tortures,  intended  by  malicious  cruelty  to  be  thus 
searching,  grievous,  lasting;    (for  'they  marvelled 

^  '  Six  hours.'   Barroio,  Vol.  i.  p.  420,  quoting  S.  Mark  xv.  25, 
34. — '  Three  hours.'    Bp  Taylor,  Vol.  iii.  p.  350,  L\fe  of  Christ. 


6 

that  he  had  died  so  soon,'')  and  let  each  one  think 
for  himself,  when  he  reflects  on  the  pain  caused 
by  ordinary  human  ills,  what  must  have  been 
the  exquisite  nature  of  that  corporeal  suffering 
which  the  Saviour  of  men  underwent  for  his  sake. 

But,  not  only  in  His  body  did  our  Saviour 
suffer  :  He  was  '  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief  in  His  affections  likewise.  He  had 
chosen  twelve  to  be  with  Him  and  share  His  pre- 
sent humility.  He  had  opened  out  to  them  the 
matchless  scenes  of  future  glory.  He  had  taught 
them,  and  borne  with  them,  and  loved  them  unto 
the  end.  Three  especially  were  attached  to  His 
own  person  ;  one  of  them  emphatically  designated 
as  *  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved.'  These  three 
were  with  Him  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane.  They 
could  neither  sympathise  with  His  sorrow,  nor 
watch  for  His  safety.  They  slept,  while  He  prayed 
and  was  in  His  agony.  They  fled  when  He  was 
apprehended.  They  had  walked  together  in  the 
house  of  God  as  friends,  and  taken  sweet  counsel 
together,  and  S.  John  reclined  affectionately  in  his 
bosom  at  the  last  Supper — but  they  were  now 
gone.  Fear  put  a  bar  between  His  friends  and 
Him,  and  He  is  left  alone. 

He  who  had  come  to  bring  mankind  reconcili- 
ation with  God,  to  make  those  who  through  sin 
were  alienated,  sons  of  God  and  joint-heirs  with 
Himself  of  glory,  is  now  abandoned  by  them.  He 
came  to  bring  God  near  to  man,  and  while  He 
found  that  man  had  rejected  Him,  there  is  added 


to  this  the  withdrawal  of  God's  countenance,  which 
hitherto  had  sustained  Him.  '  3Iy  God,  my  God, 
ivJiy  hast  thou  forsaken  me  T 

His  love  for  man  was  contemned  and  despised. 
His  miraculous  power,  which  had  ever  been  ex- 
erted for  their  good,  turned  into  a  jeer  and  an 
insult.  His  omniscient  foreknowledge  derided  and 
insulted.  His  divine  teaching  accused  of  being 
seditious  and  blasphemous.  The  heathen  Pilate 
was  ashamed  of  their  malicious  violence ;  His 
brethren  after  the  flesh,  with  such  frantic  and  in- 
veterate hate,  so  urged,  and  insisted,  and  cla- 
moured for  His  death.  And,  when  at  last  He  was 
nailed  to  the  accursed  tree,  the  sneers  and  cruel 
mockings  of  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  were 
taken  up  by  the  wretched  malefactors,  whose 
crimes  met  with  a  due  reward  in  their  deaths. 
Can  we  conceive  any  circumstance  that  might 
have  been  added  to  the  scene  which  could  have 
made  Him  feel  more  bitter  pangs  of  slighted  love 
and  rejected  mercy  ?  Could  scorn  have  done 
more?  Could  His  affections  have  been  harrowed 
by  any  more  violent  torture  ?  His  feelings  wrung 
by  ingratitude  more  base, — obstinacy  more  un- 
relenting? 

Yet,  further,  our  Saviour  suffered  in  His  soul. 
He  knew  what  sin  was  ;  He  knew  what  the  dread- 
ful punishment  of  sin  was  ;  He  moreover  knew 
what  was  God's  hatred  of  sin  ;  He  himself  had 
the  most  divine  graces  infused  into  His  soul,  and 
had  the   greatest  habitual  detestation  of  all  ini- 


8 

quity.  All  the  iniquity  of  the  world  now  rested 
upon  Him.  He  hove  our  sins.  The  burden  was 
laid  on  His  shoulders ;  and  He  knew  what  the 
burden  was.  This  makes  the  chief  ingredient  of 
His  bitter  portion.  The  man  that  dies  in  his  sins 
knows  not  what  sin  is,  till  he  comes  to  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  God.  We  know  not  the  full  measure 
of  the  sinfulness  of  sin.  We  cawwo^  know  it.  One 
sin  unrepented  of  must  have  consequences  tre- 
mendous in  their  intensity,  infinite  in  duration  : 
what  can  we  then  know  of  the  burden  of  the  sins 
of  the  whole  world  ? 

Again,  our  Saviour  knew  that  these  sins  were 
against  God.  He  knew  the  evil  and  guilt  of  sin  ; 
the  offence  against  the  majesty  of  God  ;  the  in- 
gratitude against  His  goodness.  He  knew  how 
God  hated  all  sin.  "  He  bore  that  hatred.  God 
turned  away  his  face  from  Him.  He  cried  out  in 
the  agony  of  this  anticipated  trial,  *  3Iy  soul  is  ex- 
ceeding sorrowful  even  unto  death ;'  and  in  actual 
experience  of  it,  w^hen  His  sweat  ivas  as  it  were 
great  drops  of  hlood  falling  to  the  ground,  '  Father, 
if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me;  never- 
theless not  what  I  will,  hut  what  thou  iviltJ  JVe  can 
know  but  little  of  the  dreadful  agonies  of  soul  that 
our  Saviour  endured  :  His  fearful  apprehensions ; 
His  unknown  sorrows  ;  His  unutterable  anguish  ; 
but  we  can  feel  how  much  is  contained  in  those 
touching  words  of  the  Greek  Litany  :  '  By  all  thine 
unknown  suttcrings,  unknown  to  us,  but  known 
and   felt  by  thee,    Lord,  have  mercy  on   us  and 


save  us/  'By  all  thine  unknown  sufferings,  Christ, 
have  mercy  upon  us.'  Now,  what  effect  should 
this  consideration  of  Christ's  suffering  produce? 
We  must  not  rest  in  a  barren  and  fruitless  sym- 
pathy for  Him  in  His  affliction  ;  not  expend  our 
tears  in  sentimental  sorrow,  which  does  not  reach 
the  cause  of  His  grief.  Deep  pangs,  brethren,  do 
not  thus  betray  themselves.  The  inward  mourning 
of  the  heart  is  more  full  of  sincerity  than  the 
outward  display  of  lamentation,  and  mourning, 
and  woe.  While  we  cry  out  in  the  words  of 
Jeremiah,  'O  that  my  head  were  waters,  and 
mine  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I  might  weep 
day  and  night  for  the  slain  of  the  daughter  of  my 
people,'  we  must  remember  that  '  He  was  wounded 
for  our  transgressions.  He  was  bruised  for  our 
iniquities' — we  must  recal  the  words  of  our  Lord 
himself,  'Weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for  your- 
selves.' 

Our  sorrow  and  affliction  this  day  must  be  for 
sin.  It  was  sin  that  brought  the  Son  of  God  from 
heaven  to  suffer  and  die — the  sins  of  the  whole 
world,  and  therefore  our  sins — our  individual  sins. 
We  must  then  mourn  for  these.  We  must  be  like 
those  whom  Ezekiel  saw  in  prophetic  vision,  *  all 
of  them  mourning,  every  one  for  his  iniquity.' 
The  thoughts  of  our  redemption  completed  must 
w^ork  the  same  penitence  within  us ;  for  thus  saith 
the  same  prophet,  when  setting  forth  the  restora- 
tion to  God's  favour  of  the  apostate  tribes,  '  Then 
will  I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall 


10 

be  clean  ;  a  new  heart  will  T  give  you,  and  a  new 
spirit  will  I  put  within  you  ;  and  I  will  save  you 
from  your  uncleanness,  and  I  will  be  your  God. 
Then  shall  ye  remember  your  own  evil  w  ays,  and 
your  doings  that  were  not  good,  and  shall  lothe 
yourselves  in  your  own  eyes  for  your  iniquities 
and  your  abominations.' 

We  must  exclaim  when  we  behold  the  effects 
of  God's  anger  displayed  in  the  dreadful  sacrifice 
of  Mount  Calvary,  *  Lord,  thou  hast  not  dealt  with 
us  after  our  sins,  nor  remembered  us  according 
to  our  iniquities.'  We  can  learn  from  that  sad 
spectacle  the  heavy  punishment  that  sin  deserves, 
and  feel  that  we  are  spared.  We  must  learn  that 
God  hath  wrought  with  us  '  for  His  name's  sake, 
and  not  according  to  our  wicked  ways,  nor  ac- 
cording to  our  corrupt  doings,'  (Ezek.  xx.  44).  He 
hath  not  laid  on  us  the  penalty  that  we  had 
deserved ;  but  on  Him  hath  God  laid  the  sins  of 
the  whole  world.  He  bare  our  sins  in  His  own 
body  on  the  cross,  and  therefore  we  should  mourn 
and  lament  and  bewail  our  evil  propensities. 

Amid  the  thousand  pangs  that  He  endured, 
some  there  were  which  our  wilfulness  and  ob- 
stinacy inflicted ;  some  there  were  which  our 
indulgence  in  sinful  pleasures  procured  for  Him ; 
some  which  our  corrupt  appetites  produced. 

The  load  under  which  He  groaned  was  in- 
creased by  burdens  which  we  have  thrown  upon 
Him — the  weight  of  which  would  have  crushed  us. 

The  cross  He  carried  was  erected  partly  by  our 


11 

hands — the  nails  were  driven  by  us.  We  helped 
to  stretch  His  weary  limbs;  and,  added  to  the 
thorns  with  which  His  sacred  temples  were  torn, 
His  tender  body  was  rent  by  scourges  which  we 
had  prepared.  We  were  the  cause  of  some  aggra- 
vation of  His  agonies  ;  our  sinful  lusts  filled  up 
the  cup  of  His  bitternes.  He  kneiv  this,  and  there- 
fore He  now  addresses  us  in  the  words  of  the  text : 
'Weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for  yourselves.'  If 
we  understood  this  fully,  and  would  feel  it,  such 
sorrow  should  be  ours  as  no  human  calamities 
could  draw  from  us ;  we  should  not  then  see 
man's  fiercest  outpourings  of  grief  in  the  chamber 
of  death.  We  should  not  then  seek  the  churchyard 
and  the  funeral  procession  for  the  shedding  of 
man's  bitterest  tears  ;  but  the  ascent  of  the  House 
of  God  on  Good  Friday  would  witness  the  deepest 
humiliation  ; — a  result  of  the  utmost  workings  of 
his  soul.  And  there  should  the  penitent  pour 
forth  the  tears  which  the  memory  of  the  shame- 
ful and  painful  death  of  Christ  should  bring  into 
his  eyes  ;  causing  him  to  weep  and  lament  for 
the  sins  of  a  mis-spent  life,  then  expiated  and 
washed  away.  No  transient  emotions  or  passing 
sorrows  should  be  felt  by  the  sinner  who  knows 
himself  a  sinner ;  who  knows  what  sin  is ;  who 
knows  that  the  Lamb  of  God  was  slain,  with 
every  aggravation  of  cruel  mocking  and  scornful 
reproach — with  shame  and  dreadful  torture — on 
HIS  account.  Tears  of  blood,  and  grief  that  knows 
no  bounds,  would  be  the   just   tribute    that   he 


12 

should  then  bring.  Baptized  in  blood,  and  en- 
during the  martyr's  most  intense  agonies,  he  would 
feel  that  this  was  far  short  of  the  grief  he  would 
manifest  if  he  could  but  know  the  extent  of  the 
anguish  Christ  endured  for  him.  We  cannot  know 
it,  brethren  ;  God  mercifiill}-  interposes  to  save  us 
the  knowledge, — our  feeble  conceptions  are  not 
strong  enough,  our  imaginations  fail — we  are  left 
far  behind  in  this  trial  of  grief, — immeasurably 
distanced  in  the  contest  of  sorrow  with  the  King 
of  Grief.  How,  indeed,  shall  we  measure  the 
costliness  of  His  blood  ?  How  can  ive  count  up 
the  woes  of  Christ?  The  leaves  of  autumn  and 
the  stars  of  heaven  are  outnumbered.  We  can 
make  but  one  offering  to  God  in  return  for  all 
this — a  poor  and  miserable  offering  indeed — but 
one  which  God  will  accept,  '  The  sacrifice  of  a 
broken  and  contrite  heart,'  which,  in  His  sight, 
is  of  great  price. 

This,  then,  let  us  render  to-day.  Let  the 
Passion  of  our  Lord  be  imprinted  on  our  hearts ; 
let  their  stony  hardness  be  broken,  by  this  me- 
morial imprinted  there  by  the  finger  of  God  ; 
let  the  strongholds  of  sin  be  cast  down,  and  the 
chamber  be  swept  and  garnished ;  but  let  it  not 
remain  emptij,  but  pray  that  God  would  take  pos- 
session of  it  by  His  grace,  and  occupy  it  evermore. 
Let  the  image  of  God  be  restored  to  our  inner 
man.  Let  Christ  descend  into  our  hearts  this  day 
as  He  did  into  the  tomb,  not  to  quit  them,  but  to 
remain  there  for  ever,  in  a  dwell in<i'  consecrated 


13 

to  His  use,  and  freed  from  all  impurity  ;  that 
having  wept  for  ourselves  with  tears  of  sincerity, 
He  may  wipe  away  the  tears  from  our  eyes,  and 
restore  us  to  heavenly  serenity  and  peace.  Let 
the  fierce  contentions  of  our  passions  cease  in  the 
presence  of  Him  who  bid  the  elements  obey  Him, 
and  'there  was  a  great  calm.'  May  the  pride 
that  dwelt  there  be  subdued  before  Him  who 
was  meek  and  lowly,  and  dwelt  amongst  His  dis- 
ciples as  one  that  serveth.  May  the  covetous- 
ness  that  reigned  there  be  driven  out  before  Him 
whose  meat  and  drink  was  to  do  the  will  of  God; 
who  was  content  to  fulfil  all  that  will,  for  it  was 
written  in  His  heart.  May  all  evil  concupiscence 
be  put  to  flight  before  Him  who  knew  no  sin. 

May  all  the  stains  of  sin  be  wept  over  and 
repented  of,  that  it  may  please  Him  to  wash  us 
and  cleanse  us  in  that  blood  of  purification  which 
was,  as  on  this  day,  poured  out,  and  that  we  may 
finally  be  brought  to  heaven,  ransomed,  cleansed, 
justified,  sanctified,  and  received  up  into  glory, 
delivered  '  By  his  agony  and  bloody  sweat.  By  his 
cross  and  passion,  By  his  precious  death  and 
burial.' 

If  we  will  make  this  day  one  of  mourning 
after  this  sort,  a  mourning  for  sin,  the  cause  of 
all  the  deeds  of  blood  which  were  completed  in 
the  crucifixion,  then  shall  we  have  benefitted 
truly  by  the  words  of  Christ,  '  Weep  not  for  me, 
but  weep  for  yourselves.' 

Our  tears,  however,  though  full  of  bitterness, 


14 

must  not  be  excluaively  so.  We  must  weep  tears 
of  remorse,  but  we  may  also  weep  tears  of  grati- 
tude. Mingled  with  our  sorrow  for  the  cause  of 
Christ's  agonies,  must  there  ever  arise  within  us 
feelings  of  grateful  love  towards  Him  who  under- 
went all  this  for  our  sakes.  *  Christ  loved  the 
Church,  and  gave  himself  for  it.'  '  This  love  of 
Christ,'  saith  St  Paul,  *passeth  knowledge,'  for  he 
commendeth  his  love  towards  us  in  that  being 
yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us.  '  For  scarcely 
for  a  righteous  man  will  one  die,  yet  peradventure 
for  a  good  man  some  would  even  dare  to  die  ;'  but 
what  is  the  measure  of  that  love  to  man,  which 
made  the  Lord  of  Glory  die  for  His  enemies,  pray 
blessings  on  those  that  blasphemed  and  cursed 
him,  give  life  to  His  murderers?  Surely  this  is 
condescension, — affection, — which  will  cause  a 
grateful  return  from  each  sinful  heart.  '  Greater 
love  hath  no  man  than  this,'  said  our  Saviour 
himself,  '  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his 
friends,'  and,  '  I  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep.' 
Surely  the  greatest  love  that  can  be  shewn  towards 
man  shall  meet  with  some  return  from  its  objects. 
St  Paul  says,  '  If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  let  him  be  accursed.'  Now  if  we  judge  of 
Christ's  love  towards  us  from  the  things  which 
He  suffered  on  our  behalf,  we  cannot  but  be  raised 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  admiration  and  gratitude. 
We  cannot  but  admit  that  if  the  greatest  possible 
love  is  manifested  in  laying  down  one's  life  for 
the  sake  and  benefit  of  others,  then,  how  great 


15 

must  that  affection  have  been  which  wrought  upon 
Christ  so  that  He  made  this  great  sacrifice  in  such 
a  manner,  with  such  dreadful  attendant  circum- 
stances of  shame  and  sorrow  ?  The  noble  sacrifice 
of  life  which  men  have  been  reported  to  have 
made  in  ancient  story,  strike  us  sometimes  with 
awe.  Grecian  heroism  and  Roman  fortitude  have 
been  chronicled  in  illustrious  instances  of  self-im- 
molation for  the  love  of  fatherland  or  in  the  spirit 
of  clanship.  And  we  cannot  but  feel  warmed  as 
we  read  the  record  of  their  generous  enthusiasm. 
Turn  we  to  the  Gospel,  and  let  us  ponder  there 
on  the  scenes  which  this  day  have  been  peculiarly 
brought  to  our  memories.  The  glorious  applause 
that  awaited  the  voluntary  martyr  in  the  Forum 
is  not  read  of  in  these  pages.  No  public  recog- 
nition of  benefits  conferred  was  attendant  on 
Christ's  sacrifice.  The  shout  of  popular  appro- 
bation, and  the  good  will  of  the  attendant  spec- 
tators, are  alike  wanting.  The  Son  of  God  lays 
down  his  life  amidst  the  despondency  of  his 
friends,  the  cowardice  of  his  attendants,  the  scorn 
and  hatred  of  the  rulers  and  chief  priests.  No 
sound  of  human  sympathy  greeted  his  ears  but  the 
lamentations  of  a  few  women  among  the  multitude 
who  wept  for  his  death,  because  they  understood 
not  its  import.  No  look  of  pity  or  tender  com- 
passion was  attendant  on  his  sufferings,  except 
from  a  timorous  band  of  three  faithful  women,  and 
the  beloved  disciple.  He  was  put  to  death  amidst 
the  exultations  of  his  enemies,  in  company  with 


16 

the  most  contemptible  of  malefactors.  Sacrificed 
by  a  pusillanimous  ruler  to  the  frenzy  of  the  mul- 
titude, the  victim  of  acknowledged  injustice, 
offered  up  to  death  to  quell  distant  apprehen- 
sions of  visionary  tumults.  None  of  the  circum- 
stances attended  the  execution  that  have  conspired 
to  make  men's  bosoms  glow  with  unwonted  fires, 
and  prompt  them  to  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives 
for  others'  sake.  If  we  look,  then,  no  further,  yet 
here  was  a  sacrifice  greater  than  any  the  world 
ever  did  or  shall  witness.  But  when  we  add,  the 
dignity  of  the  person  on  whom  these  outrages 
were  perpetrated,  and  the  object  of  his  errand,  we 
cannot  but  confess  that  love,  such  as  this,  is  im- 
measurably beyond  all  that  it  hath  entered  man's 
heart  to  conceive.  Love,  such  as  this,  when 
thought  upon,  and  weighed,  and  considered,  must 
make  the  bosom  glow  and  the  heart  burn.  There 
can  be  none  so  obdurate,  so  dead  to  all  sense  of 
generous  feeling,  as  not  to  be  stirred  by  the  recital 
of  the  Avoes  of  the  prophet  of  Nazareth.  And 
though  he  bids  us  not  weep  for  him,  but  for  our- 
selves, yet  we  cannot  but  yearn  with  inexpressible 
longings,  to  testify  by  some  few  tears  of  joy,  the 
grateful  sense  we  entertain  of  benefits  so  immense, 
a  sacrifice  so  precious,  endurance  so  humble,  love 
of  such  infinite  tenderness.  Such  then  be  our 
grief  this  day;  let  it  be  keen  and  piercing  for  our 
own  sinfulness  and  unworthiness ;  but  let  it  be 
withal  mingled  with  a  grateful  remembrance  of 
the  love   manifested   towards   us  in    the   painful 


17 

martyrdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour.  Weep  for 
yourselves  tears  of  penitence.  Weep  for  our  Sa- 
viour tears  of  grateful  homage.  Let  there  be  a 
recognition  of  sin  and  of  love  ;  of  sin  on  our  parts, 
of  love  on  his  part ;  and  let  the  mingled  stream 
in  unaffected  earnestness  and  sincerity  flow  fast 
and  copiously.  May  the  image  of  the  cross,  im- 
printed on  our  brows  in  infancy,  be  deeply  graven 
on  our  hearts,  and  sink  deeper  and  deeper  with 
every  returning  anniversary  of  Passion  Week. 
May  our  weary  eyes  rest  upon  the  wounds  our 
sins  have  inflicted.  May  we  look  to  the  pierced 
side  from  whence  our  sacraments  flowed  forth, 
and  realize  in  every  celebration  of  the  sacrifice 
the  vital  powers  of  the  body  and  blood  of  our 
crucified  Redeemer.  May  we  live  in  him  by  faith, 
and  make  the  remembrance  of  his  great  expiation 
an  incentive  to  penitential  abasement  and  grateful 
adoration.  That  on  Easter  Day  we  may  turn  our 
tears  into  triumphant  joy;  our  solemn  humble 
confessions  into  glorious  hymns  of  faith,  hope  and 
love.  He  that  now  goeth  on  his  way  weeping 
shall  doubtless  come  again  with  joy,  sharing  in 
•the  condition  of  his  Divine  Master,  who,  after 
being  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels  for  the 
suffering  of  death,  is  seen  crowned  with  glory  and 
honour. 


SERMON 


FOR 


EASTER    SUNDAY. 


2—2 


Serniun  far  d^asier  ^^. 


Preached  before  the  University  on  April  10,  1854. 


ROMANS  VI.  4. 

As  Christ  ivas  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  God 
the  Father^  even  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of 
life. 

n^HE  celebration  of  Christian  fasts  and  festivals 
-^  in  the  Church,  calling,  as  they  do,  upon  its 
members  to  shew  forth  various  emotions  of  hu- 
miliation or  of  joy,  raise  up  at  times  very  unsatis- 
factory reflections.  The  Church  puts  into  the 
mouths  of  the  worshippers  in  her  courts,  words 
which  speak  of  deep  and  heartfelt  affections ;  the 
language  of  her  Liturgy  is  not  a  barren  expression 
of  mere  transient  feelings  ;  it  is  meant  to  be  the 
outpouring  of  sincere,  earnest,  genuine  hearts. 

On  Friday  last  we  used  words  of  penitential 
sorrow ;  we  were  called  upon  to  mourn  with  the 
Son  of  God,  when  undergoing,  for  our  sakes,  the 
bitter  pains  of  death,  and  the  temporary  hiding  of 
God's  face  ;  to-day  we  are  bid  to  exult  in  God's 
infinite  mercy ;  to  rejoice  in  the  completion  of  the 
deliverance;  to  thank  God  for  his  faithfulness, 
shewed  in  the  midst  of  destruction,  and  to  bless 
him  for  the  certainty  we  have  obtained  of  the 
stability  of  his  covenant,  that  it  is  indeed  ever- 
lasting. And  I  think  we  cannot  contemplate  with- 


9,2 

out  apprehension,  the  fact  that  we  are  now  ap- 
pealed to  on  the  subject  of  such  mighty  truths, 
and  that  we  have  all  taken  into  our  mouths  solemn 
and  significant  words,  the  outward  expressions  of 
those  inward  feelings  which  the  Church  formu- 
laries suppose  in  us.  And  yet,  it  is  a  moral  cer- 
tainty, that  numbers  among  us  do  not  in  any 
degree  feel  the  sorrow  at  Christ's  death,  or  the  joy 
at  his  resurrection,  which  we  pretend  to  when 
we  join  in  Christian  worship.  The  veriest  trifle 
of  human  misfortune  will  cause  us  more  distress 
than  the  rehearsal  of  the  agonies  of  Gethsemane  ; 
the  most  meagre  occasion  of  human  joy  will  stir 
in  us  more  exultation  of  heart  than  will  the  words 
*  The  Lord  is  risen  indeed.'  The  history  of  our 
Saviour's  death  and  resurrection  is  one  to  which 
we  have  so  often  listened  ;  all  its  circumstances 
are  so  familiar  to  us,  that  our  emotions,  when  the 
record  is  again  brought  under  our  notice,  are 
only  vapid  and  transitory.  And  if  this  be  the  case, 
how  can  we  to-day,  for  instance,  really  feel  such 
buoyant  and  triumphant  hopes  as  shall  make  us 
join  with  sincerity  in  the  glorious  hymns  of  praise 
and  thanksgiving  with  which  our  church-walls 
ring?  If  we  feel  but  a  dull  interest  in  the  fact 
of  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord,  surely  there  is 
something  of  hypocrisy  in  making  this  our  High 
Festival ;  and,  as  we  know  that  in  every  congrega- 
tion there  must  be  many  who  are  not  walking  in 
the  way  of  everlasting  salvation,  as  we  know  that 
many  who  say  '  Lord,  Lord,'  are  to  be  disowned 


23 

by  the  Saviour  in  the  day  of  account,  it  is  right 
and  proper  that  we  should  endeavour  to  convince 
ourselves  how  deeply  we  must  offend  the  Almighty, 
if  in  such  holy  services  as  those  we  are  to-day 
engaged  in,  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  self-convicted, 
by  the  testimony  of  our  own  consciences,  of  pre- 
tending to  feel  joy  to  which  we  are  strangers,  and 
to  have  hopes,  about  the  reality  of  which  we  are 
unconcerned. 

I  feel  it  to  be  a  moral  certainty,  that  there 
may  be  many  amongst  us  who  have  not  considered 
that  they  are  acting  hypocritically  in  making  this 
day  an  occasion  of  joy.  To  enable  us  to  convince 
our  own  minds  of  this  truth,  let  us  consider  what 
the  apostle  tells  us  is  the  moral  lesson  conveyed  by 
the  fact  of  the  resurrection,  to  all  those  who,  having 
been  baptized  into  Christ,  have  been  buried  with 
him  by  baptism,  into  death.  It  is  this  :  As  Christ 
was  raised  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  God  the 
Father^  so  we  also  shoidd  walk  in  newness  of  life. 

'  Newness  of  life' — What  do  these  words  mean  ? 
Do  they  convey  to  us  any  distinct  and  tangible 
idea?  or  do  they  give  an  uncertain  sound?  This 
is  to  be  the  end  wrought  in  us  by  the  resurrection 
of  Christ,  if  we  profit  by  the  monitions  of  that 
final  consummation  of  the  earthly  sojourn  of  our 
Saviour.  Before,  then,  we  thank  God  for  the  re- 
surrection, we  should  ascertain  whether  we  are 
the  children  of  the  resurrection,  i.  e.  we  should  en- 
deavour to  find  out  whether  we  know  anything  of 
this  'walk  in  newness  of  life.'  Let  us  therefore  de- 


24> 

vote  this  exercise  to  an  inquiry  into  the  meaning  of 
these  words  ;  we  shall  then  have  words  of  warning 
and  of  consolation  for  the  respective  classes  into 
which  we  shall  find  ourselves  divided,  for  we  are 
either  walking  in  newness  of  life,  or  we  are  wo^. 
We  cannot  be  neutral.  '  He  that  is  not  with  me 
is  against  me,'  saith  our  Saviour.  *  Ye  cannot 
serve  two  masters,'  saith  He  in  another  place.  And 
it  is  manifest  that  we  cannot  thank  God  for  the 
resurrection  of  His  Son  if  we  find  that  we  have 
altogether  missed  the  great  end  which  the  resur- 
rection should  have  wrought  in  us. 

What  is  the  newness  of  life  of  which  the  apostle 
speaks  ?  A  description  of  the  tietv  life  is  given  in 
the  Epistle  for  Easter-Day  :  *  If  ye  then  be  risen 
with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are  above, 
where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  Set 
your  affection  on  things  above,  not  on  things  on 
the  earth.  For  ye  are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid 
with  Christ  in  God.'  It  is  not  sufficient,  however, 
that  we  take  the  words  of  Scripture,  and  dwell  upon 
their  well-known  sound.  It  is  the  practical  mean- 
ing of  them  that  we  are  concerned  with  :  we  are 
too  apt  to  rest  contented  with  the  use  of  a  familiar 
phrase,  or  a  conventional  expression,  without  in- 
quiring into  its  deep  import.  The  meaning  of  the 
verses  just  quoted  from  St  Paul's  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians  is  surely  this  :  You  who  have  put  on 
the  profession  of  Christianity,  and  made  a  cove- 
nant with  God,  are  told,  that  as  Jesus  Christ 
rose  from  the  dead,   you  should  rise  to  newness 


25 

of  life.  If  ye  be  then  risen  with  Christ,  i.  e. 
if  you  have  set  to  work  to  fulfil  your  share  of  the 
covenant,  so  that  you  may  lay  claim,  through  the 
merits  of  Christ,  to  the  rewards  of  which  you  are 
now  only  prospective  heirs,  you,  I  say,  should 
shew  your  fulfilment  of  the  covenant  by  having 
your  affections  on  things  in  heaven,  not  on  things 
of  the  earth.  Now  things  in  heaven  are  spiritual 
things ;  things  on  the  earth  are  carnal,  fleeting, 
temporary,  having  reference  to  bodily  pleasures, 
and  such  like.  Our  affections  and  our  seekings 
should  be  for  the  former,  and  not  for  the  latter. 
It  is  natural  to  us  in  the  uncovenanted  state,  and 
before  we  strive,  by  God's  grace,  to  become  new 
creatures  ;  before  we  shew  the  development  of  the 
newly-implanted  principle  which,  as  Christians, 
we  have  all  received ;  it  is  natural  to  us,  each 
in  his  own  different  case,  to  set  our  affections, 
and  make  all  our  exertions,  for  carnal  things, 
or  things  which  have  respect  to  this  life  only. 
Newness  of  life  is  shewn  by  a  man's  having  ex- 
perienced a  change  of  purpose.  Whereas  in  time 
past  he  lived  engrossed  by  temporal  matters,  and 
was  wholly  absorbed,  or  mainly  and  chiefly  occu- 
pied himself  in  those  things  which  end  here — as  in 
acquirement  of  reputation,  or  honours,  or  riches, 
in  the  temporal  advancement  of  his  family,  and  in 
acquiring  influence  over  his  fellowmen :  w^hereas 
in  time  past  he  made  these  things  the  chief  or 
only  objects  of  his  energies: — now,  in  newness  of 
life,   they   become    only    secondary   objects,   the 


26 

main,  the  chief,  the  absorbing  cares  of  his  life,  are 
the  ordering  his  own  heart  and  mind,  the  seeking 
to  be  like  unto  Christ,  the  endeavour  to  subdue 
evil  tendencies,  and  to  cherish  those  dispositions 
of  heart  which  we  see  exemplified  in  our  Saviour's 
life.  A  strong  desire  to  be  conformed  to  that 
divine  pattern  will  produce  in  us  a  striving  to 
become  holy,  which  God  will  bless  with  the  as- 
sistance of  His  Divine  Spirit,  and  so  accomplish  in 
the  man  the  end  to  which  he  is  striving  to  attain. 

Formerly  he  might  have  thought  it  sufficient 
to  refrain  from  speaking  of  his  neighbour's  con- 
duct or  affairs,  because  of  the  inconvenience  re- 
sulting from  indiscretion.  Now  he  endeavours 
to  check  in  his  heart  the  disposition  to  criticise 
and  find  fault,  because  it  is  a  law  of  Christianity, 
that  we  think  no  evil  of  each  other.  Formerly  he 
might  have  toiled  and  laboured  after  riches,  in 
order  to  improve  his  position  in  the  world,  in 
order  to  eclipse  his  neighbours,  in  order  to  have 
more  means  of  gratifying  his  desires  for  vain 
pomps  and  amusements,  in  order  to  become 
powerful  and  respected,  to  be  enabled  to  take  a 
leading  part.  Now  he  cares  very  little  about  such 
things ;  he  now  strives  to  earn  a  competence  for 
his  family  that  they  may  be  removed  from  the 
temptations  of  poverty ;  he  strives  to  gain  the 
affections  and  respect  of  his  fellow-men  in  order 
that  he  may  influence  them  for  their  own  eternal 
good,  and  promote  thereby  the  glory  of  God. 
Noiv  his   views,  and    objects,  and  aims,   do   not 


27 

centre  in  himself,  or  his  own  family,  but  he 
cares  for  the  promotion  of  Christ's  kingdom  in 
the  world,  and  strives  by  example,  and  by  pre- 
cept, to  advance  the  reign  of  Christian  holiness. 
Formerly  he  was  charitable,  as  the  world  calls  it, 
and  noiv  he  may  not  be  able  to  bestow  so  much 
perhaps.  Formerly  he  may  have  had  his  name 
in  every  benevolent  scheme,  and  now  it  may  ap- 
pear but  seldom ;  but  how  changed  may  be  the 
motive !  He  may  have  given  to  the  poor,  or  the 
sick,  in  time  past,  without  any  sense  of  Christian 
duty,  perhaps  even  to  be  seen  of  men,  or  to  avoid 
importunity :  Jioiv,  he  gives  what  he  can  (not  what 
he  can  barely,  out  of  his  superfluity,  but  all  that 
he  can  honestly,  by  self-sacrifice  and  self-denial), 
from  love  to  Christ  in  every  case.  The  poor  are 
our  brethren,  for  whom,  as  well  as  for  us,  Christ 
died ;  and  we  shew  that  we  are  his  disciples,  if 
we  have  love  one  to  another.  He  gives  noiv  be- 
cause he  knows  that  God  has  entrusted  him  with 
riches  in  order  to  try  whether  he  can  be  a  faithful 
steward  ;  and  he  strives  so  to  acquit  himself  of 
the  trust,  that  when  he  stands  before  his  God,  he 
may  be  called  a  '  good  and  faithful  servant.'  For- 
merly, he  may  have  been  restrained  from  mali- 
cious acts  and  wrathful  passions,  because  of  the 
discredit  such  dispositions  meet  with  among  men. 
Now  he  strives  to  put  away  malice  out  of  his 
heart,  because  God  looketh  upon  the  motive  and 
the  disposition  ;  because  he  weigheth  the  thoughts 
and  the  hearts  of  men. 


In  all  this,  you  will  observe,  I  have  taken  the 
case  of  a  man  whose  outward  demeanour  shall 
not  have  changed,  who  2vas  laborious  in  his  calling, 
charitable  to  the  poor,  careful  not  to  speak  evil 
of  others,  watchful  over  angry  passions,  and  who 
is  7101V  equally  zealous  in  his  profession,  charitable 
in  his  actions  and  in  his  conversation,  and  even- 
tempered,  the  same  outwardly,  but  inwardly,  how 
different!  In  the  one  case  merely  thinking  of  the 
praise  of  men,  in  the  other,  seeking  the  honour 
that  Cometh  from  God  only.  The  former  man 
surely  is  so  different  from  the  latter,  there  has 
been  such  a  change  in  his  tendencies,  in  his  real 
motives,  and  in  the  disposition  of  heart,  that  we 
may  easily  recognize  how  true  the  description 
given  in  the  Gospel  of  such  a  change,  when  it  is 
called  newness  of  life.  Of  such  an  one,  of  a  man 
who  has  so  altered  in  disposition  it  is  not  hyper- 
bolical language  to  use,  when  we  say  of  him  that 
he  is  '  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  his  mind.'  I  am 
not  speaking  of  the  icay  in  which  such  a  change 
is  brought  about,  but  I  say  that  it  is  evident  that 
we  have  a  true  description  of  such  an  altered 
man,  in  the  words  '  transformed  by  the  renewing 
of  his  mind;'  and  when  S.  Paul  tells  us  that 
'  newness  of  life  '  is  the  effect  to  be  wrought  in  us 
by  a  proper  appreciation  of  God's  mercies  in  the 
Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  it  not  manifest 
that  we  must  recognize  this  change  in  ourselves 
before  we  can  thank  God  for  that  manifestation 
of  his  power  and  glory  ?    '  He  died  for  all,'  says 


29 

the  same  apostle,  *  that  they  which  live,  should 
not  henceforth  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  him 
who  died  for  them  and  rose  again.  Therefore  if 
any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature :  old 
things  are  passed  away ;  behold,  all  things  are  be- 
come new.'  Old  objects  of  desire,  old  motives 
to  virtue,  old  feelings  towards  men  and  towards 
God,  have  all  given  way  to  new  views  of  duty, 
NEW^  and  more  powerful  incentives  to  exertion, 
NEW  and  more  energetic  efforts  to  fulfil  our  duty 
to  God  and  man  ;  and  this  newness  of  our  desires, 
newness  of  motive,  newness  of  feeling,  make  up 
a  new,  entirely  new,  disposition  of  the  whole  man, 
and  expressed  in  Scripture  language,  constitute 
that  newness  of  life  in  which  we  should  walk,  even 
as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father. 

We  have  thus  endeavoured  to  fulfil  the  task 
to  which  we  were  to  apply  ourselves,  viz.  to  enable 
each  one  to  decide  for  himself,  whether  he  is 
walking  in  newness  of  life.  We  have  purposely 
not  taken  the  case  of  a  man  who  has  indulged  in 
coarse  and  vulgar  sins,  of  one  who  has  given  a 
loose  rein  to  the  sinful  propensities  of  our  com- 
mon nature,  and  yielded  himself  freely  to  the 
service  of  sin  and  Satan.  In  a  Christian  congre- 
gation it  is  not  necessary  for  the  preacher  to 
shew  how  unconformable  such  a  man  is  to  the 
standard  of  Christian  holiness.  Those  who  do 
not  check  the  bad  propensities  of  their  nature, 
who  mortify  none  of  their  '  members  which  are 
upon    the  earth,'   are   not  in  danger  of  fancying 


30 

themselves  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  their 
minds,  they  have  not  a  shadow  of  a  pretence  for 
believing  that  they  are  walking  in  newness  of  life; 
but  it  is  the  seeming  wise,  the  outwardly  virtuous, 
those  who  are  noted  for  decency  of  deportment 
and  general  uniformity  of  respectable  conduct,  who 
are  liable  to  deceive  themselves ;  and  this  is  why 
we  have  selected  that  case  for  illustration.  '  God 
looketh  not  upon  the  outward  appearance,'  and 
therefore  it  is  the  duty  of  His  messengers,  nar- 
rowly and  searchingly,  to  discriminate  between 
the  inward  disposition  and  the  outward  appear- 
ance, that  all  the  members  of  the  flock  may  be 
enabled  to  judge  themselves,  in  order  that  they  be 
not  hereafter  judged  of  the  Lord.  Each  one 
MUST  judge  himself.  No  other  can  look  into  our 
hearts.  '  No  one  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man, 
save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him.'  It  is  the 
business  of  the  preacher  to  declare  generally  what 
is  laid  down  in  holy  Scripture,  and  to  guard 
against  the  danger  of  self-deceit,  as  he  knows  it 
from  his  own  heart.  It  is  essential  that  we  should 
all  examine  ourselves  in  this  matter.  If  we  find 
that  the  words  which  have  been  uttered  come 
home  to  our  hearts  with  any  strong  conviction, 
we  shall  have  a  practical  assurance  of  the  truth 
that  the  word  of  God  is  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart,  because  the  storehouse 
from  which  the  message  is  taken  is  His,  Christ's 
holy  Gospel,  that  divine  repository  of  searching 
and  convincing  truth  which  was  given  by  in- 
spiration  of  God  ;    and  we  are  in   a  position  to. 


31 

answer  to  our  own  consciences  the  question,  Am 
I  walking  in  newness  of  life  ?  if  not,  have  I  not 
missed  the  great  end  of  the  design  of  God  for 
my  salvation  in  the  Gospel  ?  must  I  not  set  to 
work  to  secure  my  birthright  which  I  have  hitherto 
neglected  ? 

If  I  have  a  good  hope  that  I  am  walking  in 
newness  of  life,  how  shall  I  shew  forth  my  joy 
and  gratitude  to  God  ? 

Let  us  now  endeavour  to  answer  these  ques- 
tions, after  taking  warning  of  one  danger  in  the 
self-examination  which  is  thus  urged  upon  us. 
Let  not  the  inquiry  into  the  fact  of  a  change 
having  taken  place  in  our  views,  habits,  and  dis- 
positions be  thwarted  by  a  desire  to  ascertain  the 
manner  or  the  time  of  the  change.  If  we  can  now 
mark  a  difference,  it  is  the  work  of  God's  holy 
Spirit,  whenever  or  however  it  w^as  wrought.  In 
general,  it  is  not  a  sudden  matter.  A  man  gra- 
dually becomes  moulded  to  Christian  principles. 
Disjwsifions  can  change  only  gradually.  The 
first  external  motive  may  be  disappointment  or 
affliction,  sickness,  death  of  near  relatives,  God's' 
word  ministered  in  the  Church,  or  private  reading 
and  study  of  that  Book  of  Life.  All  these  are 
means  which  God  employs  to  awaken  us  to  a  true 
sense  of  our  position,  but  the  manner  and  the  time 
are  nothing,  in  comparison  with  the  actu"al  fact. 
Are  we  renewed,  or  are  we  not  ?  According  as  we 
can  answ^er  this  question  on  our  death-beds  must 
our  eternal  fate  depend  ;  and  if  we  leave  it  till 
then  unanswered,  if  we  neglect  the  warning  voice 


that  urges  us  now  to  self-examination,  a  gradual 
dimness  and  obscurity  will  grow  over  our  mental 
vision,  and  we  shall  run  the  danger  of  losing  the 
capability  of  reflection,  or  turning  the  attention 
inwards  to  the  contemplation  of  our  aft'ections  and 
internal  disposition.  Let  us  hear  the  warning 
words  of  S.  Paul,  *  Examine  yourselves  whether 
ye  be  in  the  faith.'  Are  we  walking  in  newness 
oflife"^  If  we  miss  the  characteristics  that  have 
been  given  of  the  new  life,  the  renovated  mind, 
what  can  we  say  of  ourselves  ?  We  cannot  rejoice 
in  the  memory  of  Christ's  resurrection,  for  in 
truth  we  shall  have  hitherto  treated  it  as  no  con- 
cern at  all  of  ours.  We  shall  have  merely  ac- 
knowledged it  as  an  historical  fact,  and  shall 
have  neglected  the  truth,  that  '  As  he  rose  from 
the  dead,  so  we  should  have  passed  from  the 
death  of  sin  to  the  life  of  righteousness.'  How 
can  we  then  rejoice  this  day?  Oh,  it  is  not  in- 
deed a  day  of  rejoicing  to  us,  if  we  remain  unre- 
newed. Our  certainty  as  to  the  fact  of  the  resur- 
rection cannot  bring  us  joy  ;  but,  the  melancholy 
truth  must  be  told,  to  us  it  then  brings  nought 
but  apprehension.  The  message  that  we  must 
consider  as  delivered  to  us  is  the  same  that  S. 
Paul  delivered  to  the  careless  Athenians,  '  God 
hath  appointed  a  day  in  the  Avhich  he  will  judge 
the  world  in  righteousness  by  that  man  whom  he 
hath  ordained  ;  whereof  he  hath  given  assurance 
unto  all  men,  in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the 
dead.'  And  again  to  the  Corinthians,  '  He  which 
raised  up  the  Lord  shall  raise  up  us  also  by  Jesus.' 


3S 

The  fact  of  our  Lord's  resurrection,  this  day  set 
before  our  eyes,  certifies  to  us  the  truth  of  a 
general  judgment.  It  certifies  to  us  the  truth 
that  we  must  all  rise  again,  to  receive  in  our  bodies 
the  due  reward  of  our  neglect  or  of  our  faith. 
We  must  appear  before  Him  who  *  is  the  Resur- 
rection and  the  Life,'  and  we  must  be  judged  by 
the  words  of  the  text,  *  As  He  rose  from  the  dead, 
so  should  we  have  walked  in  newness  of  life.' 
And  they,  the  thoughts  of  whose  hearts  sorrow- 
fully acknowledge  that  they  find  nothing  in  their 
characters  which  can  answer  to  newness  of  life, 
what  shall  they  then  say?  Who  will  be  their 
advocate  then  ?  When  the  renewed  in  heart  and 
mind  scarcely,  with  diflficulty  as  it  were,  pass 
through  that  terrible  ordeal,  what  will  be  their 
case,  if  that  day  find  them,  as  now,  unprepared  ? 
Will  not  these  their  desecrated  Easter  Festivals 
rise  up  against  them  and  condemn  them,  because 
they  approached  God  with  hypocritical  or  careless 
words,  and  professed  a  joy  which  they  did  not 
feel,  and  joined  in  an  exultation  to  which  they 
were  utter  strangers  ? 

The  Resurrection  of  the  Body  then  should  fill 
us  with  apprehension  lest  we  should  stand  speech- 
less, and  without  an  advocate,  and  hemmed  in  by 
witnesses  of  our  own  household,  at  the  tribunal  of 
this  unavoidable,  unalterable,  unerring  judgment. 
And  this  is  all  that  the  unrenovated  can  gather 
from  the  commemoration  of  the  Resurrection  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  does  not  tell  them  of 
the  redemption  of  the  body  from  sin,  and  from 


34 

weakness,  but  it  urges  them  with  the  overwhelm- 
ing consciousness  of  penalties  to  be  paid  for  neglect 
of  the  high  things  of  God's  merciful  covenant. 

If  we  are  yet  unconscious  of  the  change  from 
sin  to  righteousness,  let  not  this  day  pass  away 
without  a  strenuous  endeavour  to  return  and 
repent;  let  not  the  reproofs  of  God's  Spirit  die 
away  on  our  ears  and  sink  into  forgetful ness,  but 
let  us  pray  to  God  earnestly  to  give  us  of  his 
Spirit  in  larger  measure,  that  our  faith  in  the 
truths  of  the  Gospel  may  grow  up  into  a  living 
principle  within  us,  and  work  in  us  that  change 
which  is  indispensable,  if  we  Avould  celebrate 
next   Easter  with   honest,  sincere,   and   heartfelt 

joy. 

Let  me,  in  conclusion,  address  but  a  few  words 
to  those  who  hope  to  recognize  in  themselves  the 
newness  of  life  of  which  S.  Paul  speaks.  Brethren, 
you  may  not,  perhaps,  find  within  that  sweetness 
of  temper,  and  amiability  of  disposition,  that  you 
think  should  be  found  in  those  who  dare  to  hope 
that  they  are  faintly  endeavouring  to  imitate  the 
example  of  the  Holy  Jesus.  You  may  tremble, 
as  you  venture  to  rank  yourselves  among  those 
who  can  rejoice  at  Easter  because  the  words  of 
S.  Paul  are  not  strange  to  them.  But  though  it 
is  right  to  be  diffident,  and  careful,  and  very 
cautious  before  we  comfort  ourselves  with  the  hope 
of  being  in  the  way  of  Christ's  sincere  disciples, 
yet  let  not  your  hopes  be  faint,  so  as  to  deprive 
you  of  the  great  consolation  which  they  may 
bring,  if  weW  founded. 


35 

It  is  not  of  your  feelings  that  you  are  to  judge, 
but  the  habitual  frame  of  mind.  What  are  your 
desires,  first  of  all?  Are  they  for  things  above,  not 
for  the  things  of  the  earth  ?  Are  you  so  desirous 
of  the  happiness  of  heaven  that  you  strive  to  fit 
yourself  for  it,  by  forming  those  dispositions  and 
cherishing  those  affections  only  which  can  be 
exercised  in  heaven  ?  This  is  the  state  to  which 
we  must  continually  approximate,  which  we  must 
have  in  view.  And  as  we  approach  nearer  and 
nearer  to  it,  our  happiness  will  more  and  more 
increase  on  earth,  we  shall  care  less  and  less  for 
the  crosses  and  vexations  we  may  meet  with,  we 
shall  care  less  and  less  for  the  pleasures  that 
temporal  things  can  bring,  and  we  shall  realize 
that  truth  which  was  read  to  us  in  the  Epistle,  '  Ye 
are  dead,  and  ijour  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God' 

Its  meaning  surely  is  this :  If  life  consists  in 
mere  animal  existence,  taking  no  thought  for  the 
future,  caring  only  for  things  apprehended  by  the 
bodily  senses,  then  Christians  are  dead,  they  live 
not  such  a  life;  their  life  is  one  which  is  Spiritual, 
which  is  directed  to  the  Eternal,  which  is  occupied 
in  the  things  of  God,  of  Christ,  of  heaven.  Their 
hearts  are  not  influenced,  so  as  to  be  guided  by 
sublunary  motives,  the  chamber  is  lighted  from 
above,  not  from  below.  The  light  that  guides  them 
is  not  the  fitful  glare  of  terrestrial  fires,  but  that 
which  is  shed  by  rays  from  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness. They  are  but  sojourners  on  Earth,  being  really 
citizens  of  Heaven.  They  are  looking  to  it  as 
their  home,  when  they  shall  be  called  away  by 


36 

God's  summons.  The  life  they  now  live  is  only 
really  life  to  them  as  far  as  it  is  by  faith  in  the 
Son  of  God,  and  when  harassed  by  cares  and 
errors  and  carnal  tendencies,  they  can  exclaim 
with  S.  Paul,  *  Who  shall  deliver  me  from  this 
body  of  Death?'  And  like  him  remember  in  their 
hour  of  peril  and  weariness,  'I  thank  God,  it  shall 
be  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.'  When  we  at- 
tain to  this,  we  shall  gratefully  recall  the  fact  that 
Christ  is  our  Life,  as  well  as  the  Resurrection  from 
the  dead ;  that  He  who  promises  to  us  eternal  life. 
Himself,  this  day,  gave  proof  of  His  omnipotence 
by  resuming  the  life  He  had  voluntarily  laid  down, 
and  in  the  i^ower  of  an  endless  life.  He  now  sits  at 
the  right-hand  of  God  to  dispense,  as  an  Almighty 
Sovereign,  those  blessings  which  He  promised 
when  He  walked  the  earth  in  humility  and  poverty. 
Triumphant,  therefore,  in  the  solemn  assurance  of 
His  ability  and  His  willingness  to  impart  spiritual 
life,  may  we  all  be  brought  to  join  honestly  and 
heartily  in  praising  the  Eternal  Father  for  the 
glorious  resurrection  of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord,  who  is  the  very  Paschal  Lamb  which  was 
offered  for  us,  and  hath  taken  away  the  sins  of 
the  world;  who  by  His  death  hath  destroyed 
death,  and  by  His  rising  to  life  again  hath  restored 
us  to  Everlasting  Life. 


INDIFFERENCE  TO  THE  WORLD  NOT  ANY  HINDERANCE 
TO  ACTIVE  EXERTION. 


S.    MATTHEW   VI.    33. 

Seek  ye  first  the  hiiigdom  of  God,  mid  his  righteousness; 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you. 

TN  this  chapter  of  S.  Matthew's  Gospel  our  Lord 
-■-  asserts  that  the  thorough  devotion  of  his  dis- 
ciples to  the  service  of  God  is  absolutely  and  in- 
dispensably necessary.  '  No  man  can  serve  two 
masters.'  'Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon.' 
And  the  reasonableness  of  this  assertion  is  very 
manifest;  for  since  the  service  of  God  demands 
our  whole  strength,  and  soul,  and  mind,  it  leaves 
no  room  for  any  conclusion  that  part  can  be  re- 
served for  another  master.  All  our  faculties  must 
be  dedicated  to  God,  in  order  that  we  may  serve 
Him  worthily;  there  can  therefore  be  none  left  for 
the  service  of  the  world. 

From  this  immediately  follows  the  practical 
lesson,  '  Take  no  thought  for  your  life,  what  ye 
shall  eat,  or  what  ye  shall  drink,  nor  yet  for  your 
body,  what  ye  shall  put  on,'  i.  e.  we  are  not  to  be 
over  anxious  and  over  careful  about  all  these  things 
— they  are  not  to  occupy  our  energies — no  pains  or 
anxieties  should  be  wasted  upon  them ;  for  it  is 
clear  that  if  our  powers  of  body  or  mind  are  over- 
tasked in  these  their  occasional  exercise,  they  will 

4 


be  unfit  for  their  higher  and  more  necessary  work, 
the  service  of  God. 

In  truth,  he  who  looks  on  the  future  in  its  true 
light,  who  appreciates  as  he  ought  the  momentous 
interests  of  eternity,  ceases  to  care  much  about 
things  present;  these  things  fall  to  their  true  level 
in  his  estimation;  and  as  his  nature  becomes  sanc- 
tified and  elevated  by  the  continual  influences  of 
the  Spirit  shed  abroad  in  his  heart,  things  tem- 
poral become  more  and  more  indifferent.  He  is 
content  to  take  what  comes  to  his  hand  without 
murmurs,  or  too  much  elation.  If  prosperous,  he 
is  not  much  excited ;  if  things  are  adverse,  he  is 
not  over- anxious,  they  move  him  not  much.  As 
he  looks  to  his  home  far  away  in  the  heavens,  and 
refers  to  that  great  end  all  his  cares  and  labours, 
he  can  think  anxiously  only  on  his  own  progress 
towards  that  blessed  consummation;  he  thinks  of 
his  kindred  and  friends  and  those  under  his  charge 
as  journeying  with  him  towards  a  state  of  being 
whose  never-ending  condition  is  alone  worthy  of 
anxious,  deep,  and  constant  care :  the  service  of 
mammon  will  sound  strange  to  him ;  the  world's 
language  and  mode  of  thought  he  will  have  un- 
learned, and  he  is  becoming,  in  real  truth,  daily, 
by  the  Spirit's  influence,  a  citizen  of  heaven. 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  Christianity  encourages 
no  spirit  of  mystic  absorption  of  the  faculties.  We 
are  in  a  state  of  temptation;  in  the  world,  while  we 
are  to  strive  to  live  above  it.  Christianity  does  not 
command  a  man  to  be  improvident,  or  careless,  or 


39 

neglectful  of  any  of  the  common  duties.  The  Chris- 
tian has  cares,  which  he  is  to  cast  upon  the  Lord 
in  prayer  and  faith,  and  so  find  relief;  still  he 
must  have  cares,  and  these  are  not  only,  though 
they  are  chiefly,  spiritual ;  they  do  not  only  consist 
of  grief  at  his  own  shortcomings,  the  bitter  lessons 
learnt  on  the  examination  of  his  spiritual  state, 
his  want  of  love  to  God,  his  misspent  time,  his 
waste  of  precious  opportunities,  his  unguarded 
words,  the  successful  inroads  of  Satan  upon  his 
soul ; — these  are  not  the  only,  though  they  should 
be  the  bitterest  cares  of  the  Christian.  Cares  for 
his  spiritual  state,  which  affect  his  celestial  citi- 
zenship,— these  must  be  the  heaviest  cares  which 
beset  him,  and  which  weigh  down  his  spirit  in 
repentance,  till  God  mercifully  reassures  him  with 
the  sense  of  pardon,  and  so  refreshes  him  in  his 
progress  through  life.  Beyond  all  this,  however, 
there  are  cares,  cares  of  this  life,  cares  arising  from 
the  system  under  which  God's  providence  has 
placed  him.  Self-examination  should  be  not  only 
in  our  duty  to  God,  but  duty  to  our  neighbour. 
The  improvident  and  careless  man  defrauds  his 
neighbour.  If,  while  he  makes  a  profession  of 
religion,  he  neglects  to  provide  for  his  own,  he 
throws  a  burden  on  his  friends,  or  on  his  country; 
and  has  left  unfulfilled  the  first  duty  that  he  owes 
to  society.  And  he  also  in  this  sins  against  God, 
for  he  causes  his  good  to  be  evil  spoken  of. 
We  are  all  to  labour  for  our  daily  bread  in  some 
way.     It  is  the  law  of  God  pronounced  upon  all 

4—2 


40 

mankind,  after  the  fall,  that  they  shall  by  the  sweat 
of  their  brow  earn  their  daily  sustenance;  and 
though  in  progress  of  time,  and  by  the  subdivision 
of  labour,  the  consequence  of  human  society,  all 
men  have  not  literally  to  till  the  ground,  to  draw 
therefrom  their  food,  yet  we  must  all  do  something 
or  other  for  those  who  go  through  that  manual 
labour  for  us.  We  have  only  re-divided  labour;  we 
have  not,  and  never  can,  get  rid  of  the  law  imposed 
upon  us  by  God.  We  must  all  fulfil  certain  duties 
corresponding  to  our  different  stations.  And  when, 
therefore,  we  read  that  we  must  '  take  no  thought 
for  the  morrow,'  and  such  admonitions  of  our  Lord, 
we  must  remember  that  it  is  the  Author  of  Nature, 
who  is  also  the  Founder  of  the  Kingdom  of  Grace, 
and  He  must  therefore  speak  in  a  way  which  is  to 
be  understood  in  reference  to  existing  circum- 
stances, and  that  the  true  and  obvious  meaning  of 
such  sentences  is  to  be  found  by  comparing  them 
with  the  whole  of  His  teaching,  and  endeavouring 
to  understand  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  in  order  to 
appropriate  its  main  and  leading  idea  as  the  great 
scheme  of  salvation. 

All  our  faculties  are  due  to  God,  all  should  be 
exercised  in  his  service;  the  world  can  only  claim 
a  secondary  part  of  our  energies,  it  must  not  be  our 
master.  '  One  is  our  Master,  even  Christ.'  In  all 
worldly  matters  then  we  cannot  shew  that  extreme 
anxiety  and  earnestness  that  we  should  manifest 
in  spiritual  matters.  It  has  been  truly  remarked 
that  the  word  which  we  translate  '  care,'  '  thought,' 


41 

means  '  anxious  care;'  it  expresses  something  more 
than  we  ordinarily  express  by  the  word  care,  and 
it  is  important  to  understand  this  aright.  The  words 
of  our  Lord  mean  what  has  been  already  stated — 
that  absorbing  attention,  distracting  care,  for 
things  temporal,  shews  us  not  to  be  acting  on 
those  principles  which  guide  men  who  embrace 
heartily  true  Christian  faith  and  hope. 

Christians  who  would  realize  in  their  own  lives 
the  faith  of  Christ,  must  not  be  over  anxious  and 
careful  about  things  temporal.  '  By  the  cross  of 
Christ,'  says  S.  Paul,  '  the  world  is  crucified  unto 
me,  and  I  unto  the  world.'  That  is,  the  amazing 
price  paid  for  redemption  so  convinces  my  believ- 
ing heart  of  the  vanity  of  the  present  temporal  life, 
that  I  cease  to  care  at  all  about  the  world ;  the  world 
is  dead  to  me  and  I  to  it;  and  it  is  this  new  life,  the 
new  creation  wherein  a  man  lives  unto  Christ,  and 
is  dead  to  the  world,  that  avails,  and  shews  the 
power  of  Christianity.  '  In  Christ  Jesus  neither 
circumcision  availeth  anything,  noruncircumcision, 
but  a  new  creature.'  The  new  regenerate  state, 
wherein  heaven  is  all  and  earth  as  nothing,  is  what 
shews  the  power  of  the  Gospel ;  and  in  proportion 
as  a  man  can  learn  to  look  with  indifference  on  the 
temporal  present,  with  eagerness  on  the  spiritual 
future,  so  may  he  measure  his  progress  towards  the 
attainment  of  final  salvation. 

Now  these  things  are  said  to  be  foolishness 
unto  the  natural  man.  The  man  who  follows  the 
light  of  his  own  reason  only,  unassisted  by  the  torch 


4>2 

of  revelation  which  lights  up  the  dark  chambers  of 
his  intellect,  would  say  thus:  *God  has  placed  me 
in  the  world,  and  therefore  my  duty  is  to  devote 
myself  to  those  calls  on  my  faculties  which  the 
world  makes,  and  therefore  I  must  strive  by  all 
meansto  getrich, become  powerful, to  shewwhat  can 
be  done  by  industry  and  perseverance,  that  thus  I 
may,  by  my  example,  urge  men  on  to  a  happy  and 
comfortable  state  of  existence  here.'  But  even  if 
we  had  not  to  live  for  the  future,  as  well  as  the 
present,  it  might  be  shewn  clearly  that  such  an 
estimate  of  man's  happiness  is  a  false  one.  For  in 
this  world  there  are  anomalies;  and  difficulties, 
sickness,  misfortune,  calamity,  do  not  fall  only  on 
the  indolent  and  careless,  but  also  on  the  prudent. 
As  the  system  of  moral  government  is  not  com- 
plete in  life  present,  therefore  virtue  is  not  always 
rewarded  nor  vice  punished.  This  leads  the  re- 
flecting to  the  question  of  the  future  state,  and 
then  Divine  Revelation  comes  in,  telling  us  plainly 
and  clearly  we  are  to  live  for  the  future  mainly  and 
chiefly ;  and  it  follows  as  a  matter  of  course,  that 
the  main  and  chief  employment  of  our  faculties 
cannot  be  that  which  relates  only  to  the  present 
world  and  terminates  in  it. 

Because  it  is,  no  doubt,  hard  to  realize  all 
this,  Christianity  is  represented  as  a  struggle, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit  dwells  within  us  to  strive 
against  our  natural  tendencies,  in  order  that  we 
may  not  fulfil  the  natural  desires  of  the  flesh  and 
of  the  mind.  And  to  help  us  in  this  case,  to  convince 


us  of  the  Heedlessness  of  our  anxious  cares  about 
temporal  matters,  to  lift  us  out  of  the  world  of 
sense  into  the  world  of  faith,  our  merciful  Sa- 
viour, ever  ready  to  lighten  our  burdens  and 
remove  our  stumblingblocks,  shews  us,  by  His 
reasoning  on  the  general  superintending  provi- 
dence of  God,  that  clearly  on  every  view  of  the 
subject  that  common  sense  and  daily  observa- 
tion supply,  we  ought  not  to  be  worried  and  tor- 
mented by  fears  of  the  want  of  daily  food  and  rai- 
ment. *If,'  saith  He,  'God  clothes  the  grass  of  the 
field'  with  such  beauty,  if  He  cares  for  the  unrea- 
soning animals  and  feeds  them,  filling  all  things 
living  with  plenteousness, — if  you  will  allow  that 
the  eyes  of  all  wait  upon  the  Lord,  who  giveth 
them  their  meat  in  due  season,  in  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist  who  addresses  God  in  the  104th  Psalm, 
'  These  wait  all  upon  thee,  that  thou  mayest  give 
them  meat  in  due  season.  When  thou  givest  it 
them  they  gather  it,  and  when  thou  openest  thine 
hand  they  are  filled  with  good.  When  thou 
hidest  thy  face  they  are  troubled.  When  thou 
takest  away  their  breath  they  die,  and  are  turned 
again  to  their  dust.  When  thou  lettest  thy 
breath  go  forth  they  shall  be  made,  and  thou  shalt 
renew  the  face  of  the  earth  : ' — if  all  things  thus 
depend  upon  God,  to  whom  should  we  go  for  the 
certainty  of  finding  that  which  our  soul  and  our 
body  require? 

Surely,  the  words  of  the  text  come  home  to  us 
with  an  irresistible  power  of  truth :  '  Seek  ye  first 


44 

the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  righteousness;  and  all 
these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.' 

All  that  we  have  real  need  of  will  God  give  us, 
if  we  seek  Him  first;  and  He  may  do  this  in  two 
ways  :— 

He  may  either  pour  upon  us  the  riches  of  His 
goodness,  and  so  furnish  us  with  the  good  things 
of  this  life,  that,  like  some  of  old,  we  may  become 
monuments  to  posterity  of  His  unfailing  and  un- 
tiring benevolence : — 

Or  He  may  remove  from  us  desires  for  the 
abundance  of  the  things  of  this  life,  and  give  us  a 
spirit  of  contentment  with  the  plainest  and  sim- 
plest lot : — 

And  thus  promote  happiness  in  either  case: 
but  such  is  the  weakness  of  man's  nature,  his 
want  of  firmness,  and  his  sinful  tendency,  that  the 
first  method  too  generally  ends  ill  for  his  spiritual 
stated 

The  wise  king  of  Israel,  whose  name  has  passed 
into  a  proverb  throughout  the  nations,  was  an 
example  of  a  man  on  whom  God  had  poured  forth 
the  richest  treasures  of  the  earth.  In  all  things 
temporal  he  was  blessed  in  a  marvellous  manner. 

A  powerful  king,  at  peace  with  all  the  world, 
his  treasury  overflowing  with  riches,  his  people 
teeming  in  singular  multitude,  with  splendid 
armies,  and  a  navy  which  was  the  wonder  of  the 

^  TaTreivoTepwv  o  /\oyi(7/uo<j  \<Tm<;,  aW'  ovi>  acrcpaXeaTepiav  1<tov 
diTe')(eiv  KOI  v\(/ov^  ko.)  Trrw/jiaToc.  Grajory  Nazianz.  Apol.  3.  quoted 
by  Hooker^  Eccles.  Polity^  Book  v.  Ixxvi.  5. 


45 

time;  moreover  one  who  was  skilled  in  all  know- 
ledge and  in  all  mysteries ;  Solomon  presented  to 
the  world  an  instance  of  what  great  things  God 
can  do  for  the  sons  of  men.  But  what  was  the  con- 
sequence? we  know  that  he  fell  away  from  God, 
that  in  his  prosperity  he  forgat  the  Giver  of  all 
good,  and  fell  into  idolatry  ;  and  Holy  Scripture 
does  not  tell  us  whether  his  apostasy  was  final  or 
not. 

Surely,  when  Christ  tells  us  that  God  the  Fa- 
ther will  give  us  all  temporal  good,  if  we  seek  first 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness, — and  we 
see  in  the  verses  preceding  the  name  of  Solomon, 
which  seems  purposely  brought  in  to  remind  us  of 
his  singular  case,  and  the  fearful  sin  into  which  he 
fell  when  fulfilled  with  God's  bountiful  gifts, — we 
should  think  within  ourselves  whether  we  cannot 
see  in  the  Christian  mode  of  making  men  happy 
there  is  not  greater  safety  than  in  the  old  method 
under  the  Jewish  covenant.  Temporal  riches  are 
so  apt  to  make  us  forget  God,  and  miss  our  ever- 
lasting salvation,  that  the  experience  of  ages  shews, 
the  best  method  of  preserving  us  to  the  day  of  the 
Lord,  is  the  new  creation — a  change  in  our  desires, 
in  our  fears,  in  our  hopes.  And  all  things  that  are 
needful  and  pleasant  are  added  to  us  under  the 
Gospel,  by  the  working  of  the  Spirit  within  us, 
which  destroys  our  love  of  things  carnal,  makes  us 
care  but  little  for  labour  and  toil,  makes  us  set  our 
hopes  on  the  enduring  and  solid  rewards  of  heaven, 
and  not  on  the  perishing,  vain,  and  empty  joys  of 


46 

earths  'Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his 
righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you.' 

Riches  you  may  not  have,  in  gold,  and  silver, 
and  jDreciOus  stones,  it  may  be,  but  you  shall  feel 
as  contented  with  your  lot  as  if  you  dwelt  in  a 
royal  palace. 

Not  clothed  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  faring 
sumptuously  every  day,  but  rejoicing  in  your  in- 
difference to  such  things,  and  feeling  that  you 
really  do  not  care  for  such  distinctions,  do  not  wish 
to  pamper  the  appetite. 

This  spirit  of  contentment  S.  Paul  refers  to  as 
the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  of  our  Saviour  when 
he  says  to  Timothy,  '  Godliness  with  contentment 
is  great  gain  :  we  brought  nothing  into  this  world, 
and  it  is  certain  we  can  carry  nothing  out ;  and  hav- 
ing food  and  raiment,  let  us  be  therewith  content.' 

We  have  daily  examples  of  the  truth  that  pos- 
sessions of  vast  extent  are  insufficient  for  men's 
happiness,  unless  there  is  something  more  ivithin. 
The  noble  and  powerful  in  our  own  land  are  not 
secure — the  accumulations  of  ages  in  riches  of  all 
kinds  have  been  scattered  in  a  few  days — the 
princely  domain,  and  lands  added  to  lands,  may 
be  broken  up,  and  leave  nothing  but  a  disgraced 

^  Credenti  totus  mundus  divitiarum  est.  Infidclis  etiam  obolo 
indiget-  Sic  vivamus,  taiiquam  nihil  habentes,  et  omnia  possidentes. 
Victus  et  vestitus  divitiie  Christianornm.  Si  babes  in  potestate 
rem  tuam,  vende :  si  non  habes,  projice.  Facile  contemnit  omnia, 
qui  se  semper  cogitat  esse  nioriturum. — S.  Hieronymi  Epistoloe, 
Lib.  II.  Ep.  2.  (Ed.  Canisii.  1581.) 


47 

name  to  their  former  owner.  It  is  impossible  not 
to  draw  the  conclusion  that  urges  itself  upon  us 
from  these  considerations,  viz.  that  in  religion  alone 
is  real  happiness — that  the  regulation  of  our  affec- 
tions and  our  faculties  is  that  which  will  secure  us 
true  contentment;  and  when  we  are  fully  convinced 
of  this  from  these  reflections  which  our  Lord's 
Sermon  in  the  Gospel  gives  rise  to,  we  can  turn  to 
other  passages  which  tell  us,  that  it  is  by  the  Cross 
of  Christ  that  we  must  be  crucified  to  the  world, 
and  the  world  unto  us — that  under  the  new  cove- 
nant it  is  the  renovation  of  man  by  the  influence 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  alone  avails  anything — 
and  that  peace  and  mercy  shall  be  on  such  as  walk 
according  to  this  rule. 

Now  it  may  seem  not  to  be  a  strict  fulfilment 
of  the  promise,  that  this  change  of  desires  should 
be  meant ;  but  if  we  look  to  the  eflect  produced 
rather  than  to  the  means,  we  shall  become  con- 
vinced that  there  is  nothing  but  what  is  agreeable 
to  God's  laws.  If  the  state  of  happiness  means  a 
state  in  which  the  desires  are  fully  satisfied,  it  is 
clear  that  the  result  is  secured  by  the  abatement 
of  the  desire  quite  as  much  as  by  repletion.  The 
constant  seeking  for  something  which  we  cannot 
attain,  while  we  yet  believe  it  to  be  within  our 
reach,  may  be  removed;  and  thus  happiness  may  be 
secured,  as  much  as  by  granting  the  fulfilment  of 
desires.  The  aeronaut  increases  his  buoyancy  by 
casting  out  the  ballast,  and  the  heart  of  the  Chris- 
tian is  lightened  and  gladdened  by  the  rooting  out 


48 

of  desires  for  earthly  delights.  He  ascends  to  the 
state  of  freedom  and  happiness  by  parting  with  his 
earthly  and  downward  tendencies  and  wishes. 

We  cannot  interpret  the  present  passage  as  we 
should  those  promises  which  our  Lord  makes  on 
another  occasion  :  '  Every  one  that  hath  forsaken 
houses,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother, 
or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  name's  sake, 
shall  receive  an  hundredfold,  and  shall  inherit 
everlasting  life.'  This  may  be  understood  of  the 
universal  brotherhood  of  Christians;  and  little  as  it 
may  seem  verified  at  present,  yet  in  the  first  ages 
of  Christianity,  we  know  from  the  Divine  Record, 
that  it  was  fulfilled  by  the  disciples  having  all 
things  common,  and  finding  in  the  bonds  of  Chris- 
tian fellowship  an  abundant  return  for  the  ties 
which  they  severed  when  joining  the  new  religion. 
But,  in  the  present  instance,  it  is  in  reference  to 
the  ordinary  wants  of  mankind  that  our  Lord  is 
speaking,  and  specially  of  anxiety  about  more  than 
the  bare  necessaries  of  life.  For,  that  we  are  to 
pray  to  our  Father  in  heaven  that  He  would  satisfy 
our  daily  wants,  we  learn  from  the  Lord's  prayer. 
If  then  all  our  anxiety  and  earnestness  be  for 
spiritual  gifts,  for  progress  in  righteousness,  we 
shall  have  all  other  things  added  unto  us,  i.  e.  we 
shall  be  satisfied.  In  this  sense  S.  Paul  had  the 
promise  fulfilled  to  him;  he  had  learned  in  whatever 
state  he  was  therewith  to  be  content ;  and  his  con- 
tentment was  not  produced  by  the  gratification  of 
desires,  but  by  their  abatement.     His  language  is 


49 

the  expression  of  one  whose  desires  for  earthly 
comforts  and  luxuries,  earthly  power  and  station, 
had  passed  away  ;  and  in  respect  of  them  he  may 
be  said  to  have  been  gratified,  and  to  have  received 
what  he  desired.  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  his  righteousness ;  and  all  your  remaining 
desires  (which  in  that  case  will  be  moderate)  shall 
be  abundantly  gratified. 

The  distinguishing  mark  of  a  Christian  is  mo- 
deration^  awcppoavvrj^,  an  indifference  to  those  things 
after  which  men  naturally  strive:  the  comforts, 
and  elegancies,  and  luxuries  of  life,  ought  not  to 
be  primary  objects  of  desire.  The  Christian  ought 
to  be  content  to  go  without  them — to  be  ready  to 
resign  these  things — to  set  lightly  by  them ;  ac- 
cording to  that  saying  of  our  Lord,  '  Whosoever  he 
be  of  you  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath,  he 
cannot  be  my  disciple.'  We  have  no  more  reason  to 
take  such  words  literally  than  we  have  to  take 
literally  the  sayings  about  smiting  on  the  cheek, 
or  forcible  abstraction  of  the  cloak.  It  is  clear 
that  these  precepts  are  the  vivid  expressions  of  the 

1  eVei  Tciy   dpKovvd'  iKavd  to??  ye  aacppoa-tv.      Eur.  Phoen.  554. 

^  Suidas.  amcppoavvt]  Xeyerai  trapd  to  <ra)'a?  e'^^eii/  ■rd<i  (ppeva<s. 
Aristotle.  Ethic,  vi.  5,  5.  Where  Muretus  in  his  note  says:  Ac  prte- 
terea  truxppoavvi^v  vocamus  non  tantum  temperantiam  veruni  etiam 
moderationem  quandam  animi,  quae  constat  ex  cognitione  sui  et  ex 
moderatione  omnium  ailectuum.  The  government  of  the  passions — 
rule  over  them — is  the  meaning  which  leads  to  the  third  use  of  the 
word  mentioned  in  Suicer's  Thesaurus,  Castitas.  A  man  is  <Tw(ppwv 
when  he  can  restrain  and  moderate  natural  desires,  as  distinguished 
from  one  who  is  led  by  the  passions. 


50 

same  idea  as  forsaking  all  that  a  man  hath — the 
idea,  namely,  of  indifference  to  mere  worldly  good; 
and  it  is  equally  clear  that  this  is  the  real  test  of 
Christianity  in  jjractice.  What  do  we  live  for? 
this  world  or  the  next?  If  we  live  for  this  world, 
then  we  naturally  are  anxious  ahout things  present; 
we  have  no  idea  whatever  of  sacrificing  comforts, 
or  power,  or  wealth,  or  station,  unless  it  be  for 
some  greater  temporal  good.  These  are  the  legi- 
timate objects  which  absorb  a  man's  energies  who 
lives  for  life  present;  but  if  we  live  for  the  life  to 
come,  it  is  impossible  that  these  things  should  be 
of  primary  importance  to  us.  We  cannot  be  much 
absorbed  by  them,  when  we  know  that  they  are 
soon  to  pass  away,  and  that  our  real  life  is  to  begin 
when  they  fail. 

Now  in  applying  this  to  our  own  case,  it  may 
seem  a  very  hard  test  to  propose  to  judge  of  our 
spiritual  state,  i.  e.  of  our  hopes  of  heaven. 

How  few  amongst  us  look  upon  the  University 
as  their  home !  How  few  intend  to  pass  their  lives 
here!  The  majority  are  looking  forward  to  some 
earthly  change  as  an  important  one ;  the  younger 
amongst  ils  are  justly  urged  to  bend  their  energies 
to  immediate  objects ;  and  things  temporal  are 
essentially  connected  with  their  views  and  thoughts. 
Should  we  be  doing  right  if  we  were  to  apply  the 
warning  of  the  text,  so  as  to  make  them  indifferent 
to  the  success  or  failure  of  their  exertions  in  the 
University?  Not  at  all.  This  is  a  danger  to  be 
guarded  against  in  many  who  have  serious  impres- 


51 

sions.  We  should  grossly  err  if  we  applied  the 
admonition  to  be  little  careful  for  things  of  earth, 
so  as  to  produce  carelessness  in  the  pursuits  of 
the  University.  These  are  not  like  temporal  gra- 
tifications, terminating  in  themselves.  In  as  far  as 
they  are  pursued  merely  with  hopes  of  emolument 
they  are  purely  earthly  ;  and  the  eagerness  dis- 
played in  their  acquh^ement  is  not  the  offspring  of 
Christian  principle ;  but  in  proportion  as  there  is 
mingled  w  ith  this — desire  for  cultivating  the  talents 
bestowed  upon  us,  and  for  improving  ourselves  as 
men  in  all  noble  intellectual  qualities — diligence 
and  eagerness  in  the  pursuits  of  an  academical 
career  are  proofs  of  our  wish  to  approve  ourselves 
before  God,  as  His  soldiers  and  servants,  and  as 
having  a  keen  sense  of  responsibility  for  all  the 
powers  with  which  He  has  endowed  us.  We  should 
not  be  seeking  God  and  His  righteousness,  if  we 
were  to  neglect  the  duties  of  this  place,  which  all 
have  for  their  ultimate  object  the  benefit  of  those 
who  are  under  instruction.  For  seeking  God 
implies  that  we  strive  to  be  imitators  like  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  therefore  that  we  en- 
deavour in  all  things  to  do  His  will;  and  to  do 
our  duty  in  that  position  in  which  He  has  placed 
us  now,  requires  that  all  our  faculties  be  sharpened, 
and  called  into  active  exercise;  that  our  memories 
be  stored  with  the  wisdom  of  the  past,  and  that  we 
be  able  to  take  the  lead  in  this  great  nation  with 
intelligence  and  aptitude,  and  well  freighted  with 
the  lessons  of  prudence  which  the  past  history  of 


52 

mankind  can  supply.  The  whole  genius  of  our 
reformed  institutions  is  against  the  notion  of  know- 
ledge for  a  man's  self,  of  the  isolated  treasuring  up 
of  information  in  ourselves.  It  is  in  favour  of 
progress,  the  welfare  of  the  many,  extension  of 
knowledge  for  the  improvement  moral  and  social 
of  mankind,  general  education,  the  raising  up  of 
the  lower  and  more  neglected  grades  of  society  to 
a  better  position,  the  universal  and  constant  ame- 
lioration of  the  state  of  all  classes  of  men.  These 
are  the  great  and  noble  objects  which  the  Chris- 
tian patriot  should  have  in  view.  To  acquire 
knowledge  for  a  man's  self  is  a  mean  object  com- 
pared with  the  desire  to  progress  in  all  respects  in 
order  to  impress  upon  others  the  results  of  our 
mental  labour. 

Viewed  in  this  aspect,  none  can  say  that  the 
duties  of  an  academical  residence  are  worldly,  and 
therefore  ought  not  to  be  primary  objects  of  exer- 
tion. Our  means  of  doing  good  depend  much  upon 
the  estimation  in  which  our  brethren  hold  us.  It  is 
within  the  reach  of  all  now  to  acquire  a  position 
which  in  the  world  at  large  will  be  in  their  favour. 
And  though  it  may  not  be  true  that  academical 
honours  are  a  sure  and  certain  index  of  future 
usefulness,  yet  if  there  be  in  any  one  a  yearning 
for  doing  Christ's  work,  if  he  have  a  noble  sense 
of  duty,  with  sincere  and  honest  desire  to  fulfil  it, 
he  will  in  most  cases  be  gaining  the  attention  of 
others,  be  securing  an  opening  for  exertions  in 
more  serious  and  important  services,  if  he  will  now 


53 

endeavour,  in  the  abilitj^  which  God  has  given  him, 
to  labour  heartily  in  the  course  set  before  him, 
to  acquit  himself  manfully  of  the  duties  assigned 
to  him  by  those  whose  directions  he  is  bound  to 
observe. 

If  he  will  thus  labour  honestly,  then  no  doubt 
he  will  find  the  truth  of  the  words  of  our  Lord, 
whether  he  succeed  here  or  not.  If  this  settled 
sense  of  duty,  if  right  principle  have  led  him,  then 
he  will  have  been  really  seeking  God  first.  And 
"  then  all  other  things  shall  be  added  unto  him  ;" 
he  will  be  made  to  feel  that  God's  work  for  him 
has  to  be  yet  pointed  out;  to  go  on  in  the  higher 
23ath  if  he  have  already  made  good  his  standing  on 
the  arduous  ascent,  or  to  proceed  in  some  other 
direction  if  he  have  not  been  so  well  approved  in 
his  first  attempt.  In  either  case,  the  conscientious 
Christian  student  will  find  the  promise  verified  that 
"  all  other  things  shall  be  added  unto  him.'  We 
must  strive  to  do  the  best  we  can.  God  will  employ 
our  energies  for  the  best.  A  trial  of  our  faith  may 
perhaps  be  involved  in  this.  We  are  constantly 
tempted  to  think  that  we  are  better  fitted  for  some 
other  work  than  that  we  are  actually  engaged  in. 
But  God  knows  best.  We  should  always  recollect 
that  there  may  be  propensities  lurking  within  us, 
which  in  any  other  position  than  that  we  occupy 
would  have  proved  fatal  to  our  eternal  happiness. 
Who  can  tell?  Must  not  our  Heavenly  Father 
know  full  well  what  is  our  danger,  and  where  we 

5 


54 

are  most  useful  ?  Again  comes  in  the  idea  of  our 
text,  *  If  we  seek  first  God  and  His  righteousness, 
all  other  things  will  be  added  unto  us.'  If  our 
sole  desire  is  to  do  our  duty,  and  promote  God's 
glory,  following  in  the  steps  of  our  blessed  Re- 
deemer, then  we  shall  not  repine  at  a  position  being 
allotted  to  us  different  from  that  which  we  desire  ; 
we  shall  know  that  He  ordereth  all  things  as  it 
seemeth  Him  best ;  and  in  this  confidence  we  shall 
be  persuaded  that  whatever  is  really  good  for  us  is 
realhj  added  to  us. 

Yet  it  is  lamentably  certain,  that  notwith- 
standing the  admonitions  of  Holy  Scripture  men 
do  not  generally  devote  their  best  energies  and 
first  thoughts  to  the  service  of  God.  We  rather 
set  the  world  first.  We  give  our  chief  energy 
to  the  accomplishment  of  worldly  aims,  and  make 
God's  service  a  secondary  matter.  Let  any  man 
reckon  with  himself  how  much  time  he  gives  to 
the  consideration  of  his  spiritual  state,  to  anti- 
cipations of  his  destiny  beyond  the  grave,  to  self- 
examination  and  prayer,  and  compare  it  with  the 
hours  he  devotes  to  improvement  of  his  means,  to 
calculations  and  forming  plans  for  the  future  of 
life  present,  to  self-indulgence  and  indolence,  and 
it  will  too  generally  be  found  that  there  is  a  mar- 
vellous disproportion  between  them.  Have  we 
then  any  right  to  find  that  Christian  contentment 
abiding  in  us  which  is  promised  to  those  who  seek 
first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness  ? 


55 

The  case  is  similar  to  that  of  many  of  our 
students  who  come  here  with  anticipations  of  suc- 
cess and  honour,  and  then  dwindle  down  into 
desultory  idlers.  To  succeed,  the  goal  must  be  kept 
constantly  in  view.  It  must  be  uppermost  in  the 
thoughts,  it  must  be  the  first  thing  sought;  and  in 
proportion  as  any  one  does  this,  is  self-approval 
just,  and  a  source  of  satisfaction  ;  but  if  it  be  not 
first,  if  pleasure  and  sloth  be  preferred,  if  exertions 
are  feeble,  and  labour  intermitted,  the  prize  re- 
cedes from  the  view,  and  discontent  and  despond- 
ency take  the  place  of  contentment.  Learning, 
to  be  acquired,  must  be  followed  after  and  ensued 
as  the  first  thing.  If  any  other  pursuit  engross  the 
affections,  failure  is  certain,  and  dissatisfaction 
must  follow. 

Again,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  one  characteristic 
of  the  Christian  course  leads  directly  to  the  result 
which  we  have  said  is  intended  in  the  promise, 
'AH  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.'  Self- 
den'ial  is  the  practical  lesson  of  Christianity  which 
it  costs  us  most  to  learn ;  but  when  learnt,  it  plainly 
leads  us  to  be  content  with  such  things  as  we  have. 
Self-denial — the  taking  up  the  Cross — this  it  is 
which  stops  men.  This  is  the  deep  gulf  to  be 
passed,  in  which  many  make  shipwreck ;  and  yet 
how  marvellous  it  is,  that  for  worldly  objects  men  do 
not  repine  at  the  severest  of  dangers  and  difficulties. 

At  the  present  time^  we  see  kindled  in  most 
1  OctoUr,  1854. 


56 

men  some  enthusiasm  and  sympathy  when  they 
read  of  the  heroic  deeds  of  valour  which  those  of 
our  own  blood  are  now  exhibiting.  The  feats  of 
manly  courage,  and  the  patient  endurance  of  pri- 
vations, stir  in  us  also  a  boldness  of  spirit;  and  we 
see  no  inconsistency  in  this  generous  self-devotion 
between  the  sacrifices  and  the  object  for  which 
they  are  made.  Long  may  it  be  so — long  may  the 
principle  of  duty  to  the  Queen  and  country  dwell 
in  the  heart  of  every  Englishman.  But  how 
strangely  at  fault  are  these  principles  and  feelings 
when  we  transfer  the  case  to  matters  moral  and 
spiritual.  We  have  a  King  to  whom  our  allegiance 
is  due,  whose  sworn  subjects  we  are,  and  we  are 
now  engaged  on  His  behalf  to  do  battle  to  the 
powers  of  evil  in  every  shape,  without  and  within. 
Alas !  how  is  the  principle  of  duty  here  wanting. 
To  put  the  two  cases  in  contrast  seems  strange, 
so  little  do  men  feel  it  to  be  necessary  to  shew 
activity,  earnestness,  and  enthusiasm,  in  the  service 
of  their  Lord  in  heaven. 

Yet,  seeking  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His 
righteousness  is  not  a  matter  of  indolent  uncon- 
cern. Unless  we  really  are  vigorous  in  spiritual 
action,  we  cannot  be  doing  any  effective  work. 
Oh  let  us  strive  earnestly  to  secure  the  true  and 
great  reward.  I  feel  that  in  urging  self-denial  my 
voice  must  be  feeble.  In  calling  men  to  be  strenu- 
ously active  on  Christ's  behalf,  I  have  no  heroic 
example  to  shew;  but  1  cannot  avoid  reminding 


57 

you  that  you  are  soon  to  be  addressed  from  this 
place  by  one  who  has  given  up  all  for  Christ's  sake^ 
whose  admonitions  will  come  upon  you  with  all 
the  force  of  consistent  example  and  noble  self- 
devotion.  May  God  of  His  mercy  grant  that  these 
words  spoken  in  feebleness  may  be  ratified ;  that 
the  message  of  salvation,  the  warning  of  self-denial, 
may  be  imprinted  deeply  on  the  hearts  of  all.  And 
we  have  this  comforting  reflection,  that  in  all  cases 
it  is  of  God's  gift  that  the  increase  comes ;  the 
message  is  not  dependent  for  its  success  on  our  im- 
perfect exertions.  '  My  word,  saith  the  Lord,  shall 
not  return  unto  me  void ;  it  shall  accomplish  the 
end  whereto  I  send  it.' 

Seekjirst  the  kingdom  of  God.  When  the  end 
is  come,  it  must  be  the  last  thing  that  you  think  of 
If  we  have  climbed  vigorously  up  the  hill  of  God, 
then  when  we  enter  the  narrow  defile  that  sepa- 
rates us  from  the  promised  land,  we  may  perceive 
the  landscape  overspread  with  mist,  and  indistinct ; 
we  shall  from  the  mountain-top  gaze  with  confi- 
dent expectation  on  that  which  we  may  not  yet  see 
in  all  its  grandeur  and  sublimity.  But  in  the 
morning  of  the  resurrection,  when  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness shall  arise  in  the  fulness  of  his  strength, 
and  the  mist  shall  roll  away  in  glorious  majesty, 
our  longing  eyes  shall  be  satisfied  with  a  full 
revelation   of    that   kingdom  of   God  which   we 

^  The  University  Preacher  for  the  month  following  that  in  which 
these  Lectures  were  delivered  was  the  Bishop  of  New  Zealand. 


58 

have  sought  with  earnest  self-devotion.  And 
the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them 
that  love  Him,  though  hitherto  unseen,  shall  be 
perceived — though  hitherto  unheard,  shall  be 
clearly  distinguished. 

But  if  we  will  not  seek  first  the  kingdom  of 
God  now,  if  we  travel  onwards  in  indolent  security, 
along  the  beaten  and  easy  track,  the  everlasting 
hills  shall  separate  us  from  the  brilliant  scenes  in 
which  we  might  have  taken  part,  and  the  ever- 
descending  road  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death  takes  us  far  away  from  the  land  of  the 
blessed.  '  And  they  shall  pass  through,'  saith  the 
prophet,  'hardly  bestead  and  hungry;  and  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  that  when  they  shall  be  hungry  and 
faint,  they  shall  fret  themselves,  and  curse  their 
king  and  their  God,  and  look  upward.'  'And  they 
shall  look  unto  the  earth;  and  behold  trouble,  and 
darkness,  dimness  of  anguish;  and  the  light  is 
darkened  in  the  heavens  thereof.' 

And  how  bitter  then  to  think  of  our  neglected 
Saviour,  to  think  how  we  have  carelessly  disre- 
garded the  love  of  One  so  mighty  and  so  merciful, 
how  we  have  turned  away  from  the  affectionate 
entreaties  of  One  so  anxious  to  save  us,  so  sympa- 
thising, so  deeply  concerned  in  our  welfare.  How 
terrible  to  think  of  the  requital  of  our  obstinacy, 
when  Jesus,  the  kind,  the  merciful,  the  compas- 
sionate, is  to  be  the  Just  Judge,  and  we  are  anx- 
ious to  hide  ourselves  from  the  face  of  Him  that 


59 

sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the 
Lamh. 

Oh !  listen  to  the  voice  of  wisdom.  Seek 
first  the  bread  of  life  which  came  down  from  hea- 
ven. Temporal  wants  are  less  than  nothing  com- 
pared with  spiritual.  We  have  within  us  a  deep 
desire  for  immortality,  and  it  is  only  he  that  eateth 
of  this  bread  that  shall  live  for  ever. 


CAMBRIDGE  : 
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JANUARY,  1855. 

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MANUALof  PRAYER  for  the  WOUNDED.    9d.    {Ready.) 
Jan.    1.— SERMON  for  the  WOUNDED. 
8.— To  the  DYING. 
„     15.— To  the  MOTHER  at  HOME. 
„     22.— To  the  RECRUIT. 
„     31.— The  DUTY  of  the  BRITISH  PUBLIC. 

XI. 

The  SECOND  GERMAN  BOOK:  a  SYNTAX, and  Etymo- 
logical  Vocabulary,  with  copious  Reading- Lessons  and  E.xercises.  By 
the  late  Rev.  T.  K.  ARNOLD,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Lyndon,  and  formerly 
Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  ;  and  J.  W.  FRADERSDORFF, 
Phil.  Dr.,  of  the  Taylor-Institute,  Oxford.  In  12mo.  6s.  6d.  {Now 
ready.) 

Also,  by  the  same  Authors, 

1.  The  FIRST  GERMAN  BOOK.     Third  Edition.     5s.  &d. 

2.  READING  COxMPANION  to  the  FIRST  GERMAN  BOOK.     4s. 

3.  HANDBOOK  of  GERMAN  VOCABULARY.    4s. 

XII. 

The  GREEK  TESTAMENT:  ^vith  a  Critically  revised  Text; 
Various  Readings ;  Marginal  References  to  Verbal  and  Idiomatic 
Usage;  Prolegomena;  and  a  CRITICAL  and  EXEGEl'ICAL  COM- 
MENTARY in  English.  By  the  Rev.  HENRY  ALFORD,  B.D., 
Minister  of  Quebec  Chapel,  London,  and  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Cambridge.    Vol.  1.    Second  Edition.    In  8vo. 

Lately  published, 
The  SECOND  VOLUME.     (The  Third  and  Concluding  Volume  is  in 
preparation.) 


THE  MESSIAH,  Theologically  and  Practically  Contemplated, 
in  His  Person,  Work,  and  Kingdom.  By  WILLIAM  BROWN 
GALLOWAY,  M.A.,  Incumbent  of  St.  Mark's,  Regent's  Park, 
St.  Pancras.     In  8vo.     9*.     {Now  Ready.) 

XIV. 

ARNOLD'S    SCHOOL   CLASSICS.— HORATII    OPERA, 

follcvved  by  ENGLISH  INTRODUCTIONS  and  NOTES. 
This    Edition  of   Horace  is  based  upon  that   of   Dr.  Dubner,    but  the 
Introductions  and  Notes  have  been  abridged,  and  in  many  places  re- written, 
and  additional  Notes  introduced,  and  pains  taken  to  adapt  the  Commentary 
more  especially  to  tlie  use  of  Schools.     In  12mo.     7s.     {Just  published.) 

The  INSPIRATION  of  HOLY  SCRIPTURE,  its  Nature  and 
Proof;  Eight  Discourses  preached  before  the  University  of  Dublin. 
By  WILLIAM  LEE,  M.A.,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Trinity  College. 
In  8vo.     14s. 

XVI. 

A  CATECHETICAL  HELP  to  BISHOP  BUTLER'S 
ANALOGY.  By  the  Rev.  CAMPBELL  GREY  HULTON,  MA, 
of  Brazenose  College,  Oxford.  Crown  8vo.  4s.  Qd.  {Just  pub- 
lished.) 

XVII. 

PREPARATION  of  PROPHECY;  or,  the  Use  and  Design 
of  the  OLD  TESTAMENT  Examined.  By  WILLIAM  ROWE 
LYALL,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Canterbury.  New  and  Improved  Edition. 
In  Svo.     9*. 

XVIII. 

A    PLAIN    and    SHORT    HISTORY    of  ENGLAND   for 

CHILDREN  :  in  Letters  from  a  Father  to  his  Son.  With  Questions. 
By  GEORGE  DAVYS,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Peterborough. 
Eleventh  Edition.     In  ISmo.     2s.  dd. 

XIX. 

NINE  CHARGES  delivered  to  the  CLERGY  of  the 
DIOCESE  of  LINCOLN;  with  SOME  OTHER  WORKS.  By 
JOHN  KAYE,  D.D.,  late  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  Edited  by 
his  SON,     In  Svo.     10s.  Qd. 

XX. 

A  COURSE  of  SERMONS  on  the  LORD'S  PRAYER,  with 

Illustrations  from  the  Writings  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church.  By 
THOMAS  HUGO,  M.A.,  F.S.A..  F.L.S.,  Senior  Curate  of  St. 
Botolph,  Bishopsgate.     In  12mo.     ()S. 

XXI. 

A  MEMOIR  of  FELIX  NEFF,  Pastor  of  the  High  Alps  ;  and 
of  his  Labours  among  the  French  Protestants  of  Dauphine',  a  Rem- 
nant of  the  Primitive  Christians  of  Gaul  By  WILLIAM  STEPHEN 
GILLY,  D.D.,  Canon  of  Durham,  and  Vicar  of  Norham.  Sixth 
Edition.     In  small  Svo.     5s.  6c^.     {In  the  press.) 


BOOKS   RECENTLY    PUBLISHED 


XXII. 

MEDITATIONS  and  PRAYERS  on  the  ORDINATION 
SERVICE  for  DEACONS.  By  the  Rev.  J.  H.  PINDER,  M.A., 
Principal  of  Wells  Theological  College,     In  small  8vo.  3*.  6d. 

XXIII. 

NOTES  at  PARIS  in  1853;  particularly  on  the  State  and 
Prospects  of  RELIGION.     In  small  8vo,     4s. 

XXIV. 

THE  SECOND  HEBREW  BOOK,  containing  the  BOOK 
of  GENKSIS.  With  Syntax  and  Vocabulary.  By  the  late  Rev. 
T.  K.  ARNOLD,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Lyndon,  and  formerly  Fellow  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge.     In  12mo.     9s. 

Lately  published,  by  the  same  Author, 
The    FIRST    HEBREW   BOOK.     l2mo.     7s.  Qd.    {A  KEY  to  this 
Work  is  now  ready,  price  3s.  6d.) 

XXV. 

AN  INTRODUCTION  to  the  DEVOTIONAL  STUDY  of 
the  HOLY  SCRIPTURES.  By  EDWARD  MEYRICK 
GOULBURN,  D.C.L.,  Head  Master  of  Rugby  School,  and  Chaplain 
to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford.     In  small  8vo.     3s.  6d. 

XXVI. 

THE  JOURNAL  of  CONVOCATION,  No.  IL,  being  a  New 
Series    of    "  SYNODALIA."      Edited    by    the    Rev.    CHARLES 
WARREN,  of  Over,  St.  Ives,  Hunts.     In  8vo.     2*.     (Now;  ready.) 
Lately  published.  No.  I.,  containing  the  REPORTS  of  CONVOCATION 
for  1854.     Is. 

XXVII. 

A  PARAPHRASTIC  TRANSLATION  of  the  APOSTO- 
LICAL EPISTLES,  with  NOTES.  By  the  late  PHILIP 
NICHOLAS  SHU'lTLEWORTH,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Chichester. 
Fifth  Edition.     In  8vo.     9s. 

XXVIII. 

MATERIALS  for  TRANSLATION  into  LATIN:  selected 
and  arranged  by  AUGUSTUS  GROTEFEND.  Translated  from 
the  German  by  the  Rev.  H.  H.  ARNOLD,  B.A.,  and  Edited  (with 
Notes  and  Excursuses  from  Grotefend)  by  the  late  Rev.  T.  ARNOLD, 
M.A.,  Rector  of  Lyndon,  and  formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.  Third  Edition.  In  8vo.  7s.  6d.  {Just  pub/ished.) 
*«*  A  KEY  to  this  Work  may  now  be  had.     In  Svo.     45. 

XXIX. 

THE  HAPPINESS  of  the  BLESSED  Considered  as  to 
the  Particulars  of  their  State  ;  their  Recognition  of  each  other  in  that 
State;  and  its  Difference  of  Degrees.  By  RICHARD  MANT,  D.D., 
late  Lord  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor.     Seventh  Edition.     In  12mo. 


BY   MESSRS.  RIVINGTON. 


XXX. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  ;  Six  Sermons  preached  in 
LENT.  By  JOHN  JACKSON,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 
Fifth  Edition.     In  small  8 vo.     3s.  6rf.     (^Just  published.) 

XXXI. 

PRAYERS  for  the  SICK  and  DYING.  By  the  Author  of 
"Sickness  :  its  Trials  and  Blessings."  In  12mo.  Second  Edition. 
2s.  6d. 

XXXIT. 

SOME  ACCOUNT  of  the  COUNCIL  of  NIC^A,  in  con- 
nexion with  the  LIFE  of  ATHANASIUS.  By  JOHN  KAYE,  D.D., 
late  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln.     In  8vo.     8s. 

XXXIII. 

HENRY'S  ENGLISH  GRAMMAR;  a  Manual  for  BEGIN- 
NERS.    By  the  late  Rev.  THOMAS   KERCHEVER  ARNOLD, 
M.A.,  Rector  of  Lyndon,  and  formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.     In  12mo.     3s.  6d. 
In   this   Work  Mr.  Arnold  has  applied  the  scientific  method  developed 

by  Becker    to  the  Syntax   of  the   English  language,   and  the  beginner  is 

introduced  by  a  simple  process  of  observation  and  analysis  to  this  method  as 

a  groundwork  of  grammatical  study. 

XXXIV. 

The  Second  Edition  of  SERMONS  on  the  HOLY  DAYS 

observed  in  the  CHURCH  of  ENGLAND  throughout  the  Year. 
By  the  Rev.  J.  H.  FINDER,  M.A.,  Principal  of  Wells  Theological 
College.     In  12mo.     6s.  6c?. 

Also,  by  the  same  Author, 
SERMONS  on  the  BOOK  of  COxMMON  PRAYER.    Third  Edition.    7s. 

XXXV. 

PARISH  SERMONS,  as  preached  from  his  own  Pulpit.  By 
the  Rev.  JAMES  ASPINALL,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Althorpe,  Lincoln- 
shire ;  Author  of  "  Sermons  Doctrinal  and  Practical,"  and  other 
Works.     In  12mo.     5s. 

XXXVI. 

A  COURSE  of  SERMONS  on  the  EPISTLE  and  GOS- 
PEL for  each  Sunday  in  the  Year.  By  the  Rev.  ISAAC  WILLIAMS, 
B.D.,  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  and  Author  of  a  "  Har- 
mony of  the  Gospels,  with  Reflections."     In  2  vols,  small  8vo.     lis. 

XXXVII. 

THE  FIRST   ITALIAN  BOOK;   on  the  Plan  of  the   Rev. 
T.  K.  Arnold's  First  French  Book.     By  Signer  PIFFERI,  Pro- 
fessor of  Italian,  and  DAWSON  W.  TURNER,  xM.A.,  Head  Master  of 
the  Royal  Institution  School,  Liverpool.     In  12mo.     5s.  6rf. 
*#*  A  Key  to  the  Exercises  may  be  had,  price  Is.  6c?. 
XXXVIII. 

CHRISTIAN  LIFE:  a  MANUAL  of  SACRED  VERSE. 
By  ROBERT  MONTGOMERY,  M.A.,  Author  of  "The  Omnipre- 
sence of  the  Deity."     Sixth  Edition.     In  32mo.     4s. 


BOOKS    RECENTLY   PUBLISHED 


XXXTX. 

THE    COLONIAL   CHURCH    CHRONICLE    and    MIS- 
SIONARY JOURNAL.     VOL.  VII.     [July,  1853— June,  1854.] 
In  8vo.    7s. 
*^*  This  Journal  contains  numerous  Original  Articles,  Correspondence, 
and  Documents    relatinf/  to   the  CHURCH  in  the  COLONIES,  Reviews 
and  Notices  of  New   Publications,  and  a  Monthly  Summary  of  Colonial, 
Foreign,  and  Home  News. 

Continued  in  Monthly  Numbers,  price  6d.  each. 

PRIVATE      DEVOTIONS  '  and     FAMILY     PRAYERS. 

Edited  by  the  Rev.  EDWARD  SCOBELL,  M.A.,  Incumbent 
Minister  of  St.  Peter's,  Vere  Street,  St.  Marylebone.  In  18mo. 
Is.  6d. 

XLI. 

ST.  HIPPOLYTUS  and  the    CHURCH    of  ROME   in   the 

Earlier  Part  of  the  THIRD  CENTURY;  from  the  newly-discovered 
"PHILOSOPHUMENA,"  or,  the  Greek  Text  of  those  Portions 
which  relate  to  that  subject;  with  an  ENGLISH  VERSION  and 
NOTES  ;  and  an  Introductory  Enquiry  into  the  Authorship  of  the  Trea- 
tise, and  on  the  Life  and  Works  of  the  Writer.  By  CHRISTOPHER 
WORDSWORTH,  D.D.,  Canon  of  Westminster.     In  8vo.     8s.  6d. 

XLII. 

SEVEN  SERMONS  for  a  SICK  ROOM.  By  the  Rev. 
EDWARD  BERENS,  M.A.,  Archdeacon  of  Berks,  and  Vicar  of 
Shrivenham.     In  I2mo.     Is.  6d.     {Just published.) 

XLIII. 

RIDDLE  and  ARNOLD'S  ENGLISH-LATIN  DIC- 
TIONARY for  the  Use  of  Schools  :  being  an  Abridgment  of  Riddle 
and  Arnold's  Copious  and  Critical  English-Latin  Lexicon,  by  the  Rev. 
J.  C.  EBDEN,  late  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge. 
In  post  8vo.      10s.  6rf.     (Just  published.) 

XLIV. 

THINGS  AFTER  DEATH  ;  containing  Three  Chapters  on 
the  INTERMEDIATE  STATE,  with  Thoughts  on  Family  Burying 
Places,  and  150  ORIGINAL  EPITAPHS  in  Verse,  for  Country 
Churchyards.  By  the  Rev.  JOHN  MILLER,  M.A.,  of  Worcester 
Colltge,  Oxford.  Second  Edition.  In  small  8vo.  3s.  6d. 
XLV. 

XENOPHON'S  ANABASIS.     With   ENGLISH   NOTES, 

translated  (with  Additions)  from  the  German  of  Dr.  HERTLEIN,  by 
the  late  Rev.  '1'.  K.  ARNOLD,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Lyndon,  and  the  Rev. 
HENRY  BROWNE,  M.A.,  Canon  of  Chichester.  (Forming  a  New 
Vohimt)  oi  Arnold's  School  Classics.)  In  12mo.  6s.  6d. 
Books  IV.  to  VII.  of  this  Edition  are  contained  in  Mr.  Arnold's  Fourth 
Greek  Book. 

XLVI. 

SICKNESS  :  its  TRIALS  and  BLESSINGS.  Fourth  Edition. 
In  small  8vo.     5s. 


BY   MESSRS.  RIVINGTON. 


HYMNS   and    POEMS  for   the    SICK   and    SUFFERING. 

In  connexion  with  the  Service  for  the  VISITATION  of  the  SICK. 
Edited  by  the  Rev.  T.  V.  FOSBERY,  M.A.,    Perpetual  Curate  of 
Sunningdale.     Tfiird  Edition.     In  small  8vo.     6s.  6d. 
This  Volume  contains   233    separate  pieces;    of  which  about  90  are  by 
writers  who  lived  prior  to  the  18th  Century:  the  rest  are  modern,  and  some 
of  these  original.     Amongst  the  names  of  the  writers  (between  70  and  80  in 
numl)er)  occur  those  of  Sir  J.  Beaumont — Sir  T.  Browne— F.  Davison — 
Elizabeth  of  Bohemia — P.   Fletcher — G.   Herbert — Dean  Hickes  — Bp.  Ken 
— Norris — Quarles — Sandys — Bp   J.  Taylor — Henry  V^aughan — and  Sir  H. 
Wotton.     And  of  modern  writers  : — Miss  E.  B.  Barrett — The   Bishop  of 
Oxford— S.   T.    Coleridge— Sir    R.   Grant— Miss    E.   Taylor— W.    Words- 
worth—  Rev.  Messrs.  Chandler — Keble — Lyte — Monsell — Moultrie  —  and 
Trench. 

XLVIII. 

SERMONS  preached  at  Romsey.  By  the  Hon.  and  Rev. 
GERARD  J.  NOEL,  M.A.,  late  Canon  of  Winchester,  and  Vicar  of 
Romsey,  Hants.  With  a  Preface  by  SAMUEL  WILBERFORCE, 
D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford.     In  r2mo.     7s.  Qd. 

XLIX. 

A  NEW  TRANSLATION  of  the  RECEIVED  TEXT  of  the 
APOSTOLICAL  EPISTLES,  slightly  interpolated,  and  illustrated  by 
a  Synoptical  and  Logical  Paraphrase  of  the  Contents  of  each  :  the 
whole  setting  forth  the  sum  of  an  Ancillary  Series  of  Annotations  on 
the  Epistles.  By  THOMAS  WILLIAMSON  PEILE,  D.D  ,  Head 
Master  of  Repton  School ;  and  some  time  Fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.     PART  I.— ROMANS.     In  8vo.     Is.  6d. 

Also,  by  the  same  Author,  just  published, 
ANNOTATIONS   on    ST.   PAUL'S    EPISTLE    to  the   ROMANS. 

Second  Edition,  revised  and  enlarged.     In  8vo.     Js.  6d. 

L. 

THE  THIRD  GREEK  BOOK;  containing  a  Selection  from 
XENOPHON'S  CYROPiEDIA,  with  Explanatory  Notes,  Syntax, 
and  a  Glossarial  Index.  By  the  late  Rev.  THOMAS  KERCHEVER 
ARNOLD,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Lyndon,  and  formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge.     In  12 mo.     3*.  6c?. 

LI. 

THE  FOURTH  GREEK  BOOK;  or,  the  Last  Four  Books 
of  XENOPHON'S  ANABASIS,  containing  the  HISTORY  of  the 
RETREAT  of  the  TEN  THOUSAND  GREEKS:  with  Explana- 
tory Notes,  and  Grammatical  References.  By  the  SAME  Editor.  In 
12mo.     4*. 

LII. 

THE  SECOND  ADAM:  a  COURSE  of  LECTURES  on 
the  DIVINITY  of  our  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST,  and  the  Union 
of  the  Divine  and  Human  Natures  in  his  Sacred  Person;  (with  cer- 
tain OCCASIONAL  SERMONS.)  Delivered  in  St.  John's  Church, 
Cheltenham.  By  WILLIAM  JOHN  EDGE,  M.A.,  formerly 
Rector  of  Waldringfield,  Suffolk.     In  Svo.     10*.  6d. 


RECENTLY  PUBLISHED  BY  MESSRS.  RIVINGTON. 


LIU. 

A   PRACTICAL    INTRODUCTION  to   GREEK   PROSE 

COMPOSITION,  Part  the  First.     By  the  late  Rev.  THOMAS  KER- 

CHEVER  ARx\OLD,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Lyndon,  and  formerly  Fellow 

of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.   In  8vo.   5s.  6d.  Eighth  Edition. 

*»*  This  new  Edition  has  been  reprinted  from  the  Sixth  in  deference  to 

opinions  of  authority   as  to  the  coni])arative   usefulness  of  the  Sixth  and 

Seventh,  and  will  remain  in  future  the  standard  Edition. 

The  object  of  this  AVoik  is  to  enable  the  Student,  as  soon  as  he  can 
decline  and  conjugate  with  tolerable  facility,  to  translate  simple  sentences 
after  given  examj)les,  and  with  given  words;  the  principles  trusted  to  being 
principally  those  of  imitation  and  very  frequent  repetition.  It  is  at  once  a 
Syntax,  a  Vocabulary,  and  an  Exercise  Book ;  and  is  used  at  all,  or  nearly 
all,  the  Public  Schools, 

Also,  by  the  same  Author, 
A  SECOND  PART  of  the  above  Work  (On  the  PARTICLES).     In 
8vo.  65.  6d. 

LIV. 

THE  DARK  AGES  ;  a  Series  of  Essays  in  illustration  of  the 
Religion  and  Literature  of  the  Ninth,  Tenth,  Eleventh,  and  Twelfth 
Centuries.  By  the  Rev.  S.  R.  MAITLAND,  D.D.,  F.R.S.,  and  F.S.A., 
some  time  Librarian  to  the  late  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Keeper 
of  the  MSS.  at  Lambeth.      Third  Edition.      In  8vo.     10s.  Cd. 

LV. 

ECCLESIASTICAL  BIOGRAPHY  :  or,  LIVES  of  EMI- 
NENT MEN  connected  with  the  HISTORY  of  RELIGION  in 
ENGLAND,  from  the  commencement  of  the  REFORMATION  to 
the  RKVOi^UriON.  Selected,  and  Illustrated  with  Notes.  By 
CHRISTOPHER  WORDSWORTH,  D.D.,  late  Rector  of  Buxted 
with  Uckfield,  Sussex,  and  Master  of  Trmity  College,  Cambridge. 
Fourth  Edition.     In  4  vols.  Svo.     With  5  Portraits.     2l.  14s. 

Also,  by  the  same  Editor  (uniformly  printed), 
CHRISTIAN  INSTITUTES:  A  Series  of  Discoursfs  and  Tracts, 
selected,  arranged  systematically,  and  illustrated  with  Notes.    Second 
Edition.     In  4  vols.  Svo.     2/.  Hs. 

LVI. 

The  Fifth  Edition  of  LECTURES,  HISTORICAL,  DOC- 
TRINAL, and  PRACTICAL,  on  the  CATECHISM  of  the  CHURCH 
of  ENGLAND.  By  FRANCIS-RUSSELL  NIXON,  D.D.,  Lord 
Bishop  of  Tasmania.     In  Svo.     16*. 

LVI  I. 

CORNELIUS  TACITUS,  Part  IL  (ANNALES,  Books 
XI.-XVI.)  With  FN(iI.ISII  NOTES,  translated  from  the  German 
of  Dr.  KARL  NIPFERDEY,  with  additions,  by  the  Rev.  H. 
BROWNE,  M.A.,  Canon  of  Chichester.  (Forming  a  New  Volume 
of  the  Rev.  T.  K.  ARiNOLD'S  CLASSICS.)  Jn  12mo.  5*. 
Also, 
PxVRT  I.  containing  the  First  Six  Books  of  the  ANNALES.     65. 


WORKS  PUBLISHED  BY   MESSRS.  RIVINGTON. 


RECENT    PAMPHLETS    AND    TRACTS. 


A  CHARGE  delivered  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  St.  David's.  By 
CONNOP  THIRLWALL,  U.D.,  Bishoj)  of  St.  David's,  at  his  Fifth  Visita- 
tion, in  Septembtr  and  October,  1854.     In  8vo.     2s. 


A  CHARGE  delivered  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Worcester,  at  his 
Triennial  Vihitation,  July,  1854  ;  coiitainintr  Strictures  on  Arclideacou 
Wilberforee's  Treatise  on  the  Eucharist.  By  HENRY,  Lord  liishop  of 
Worcester.     In  8vo.     Is. 


A  CHARGE  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol,  at  his 
Visitation  in  August  and  Se|jtcnibor,  1854.  By  JAMES-HENRY,  Lord 
Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol.     In  8vo. 


A  CHARGE  delivered  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Archdeaconry  of  Lindisfarne,  in 
July,  1854.     By  R.  C.  COXE,  M.A.,  Archdeacon.     In  8vo.     Is. 


A  CHARGE  delivered  at  the  Spring  Visitation  of  the  Archdeaconry  of 
Lincoln,  in  May,  1854.  By  H.  K.  BONNEY,  D.D.,  Archdeacon  of 
Lincohi.     In  8vo.     id. 

VI. 

"The  Church  Rate  Question  and  the  Principles  involved  in  it;" 
a  CHARGE  delivered  to  the  Clerj^v  of  the  Archdeaconry  of  Maid-stone,  at 
the  Ordinary  Visitation,  in  May,  1854.  By  BENJAMIN  HARRISON, 
M.A.,  Archdeacon  of  Maidstone.     In  8v'o.     Is. 

VII. 

LAY   of   the   CRIMEA.     Canto   I.      By  JOHN    DRYDEN    PIGOTT, 

Author  of"  The  Patriarch  of  the  Nile,"  "  Egypt,"  &c.     Is. 


SOME  ACCOUNT  of  the  CANTERBURY  SETTLEMENT,  New  Zea- 
land, 1853.  By  tlic  Rev.  R.  B.  PAUL,  M.A.,  Commissary  of  the  Bishop  of 
New  Zealand,  and  late  Fellow  of  Exeter  College,  Oxford.     In  18mo.     Is. 


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greater  length,  in  genuine  idiomatic  English,  for  Translation  into  Latin.  8vo.  4s. 
t  MATERIALS    for    TRANSLATION    into    LATIN:    selected  and   arranged   by 
Augustus  Grotefend.  Translated  from  the  German  bv  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Arnold, 
B.A.,  with  Notes  and  Excursuses.     Third  Edition.     8vo.     7s.  6d. 
A  COPIOUS  and  CRITICAL  ENGLISH-LATIN  LEXICON,  by  the  Rev.  T.  K.  . 

Arnold  and  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Riddle.     Third  Edition.     11.  5s. 
An  ABRIDGMENT   of   the   above   Work,  for   the  Use   of   Schools.     By  the  Rev. 
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t  The  FIRST  GREEK  BOOK  ;  on  the  Plan  of  «  Henry's  First  Latin  Book."    Third 

Edition.     12mo.     5s. 
fThe  SECOND  GREEK  BOOK  (on  thesame  Plan);  containingan  Elementary  Treatise 
on  the  Greek  Particles  and  the  Formation  of  Greek  Derivatives.    12mo.   5s.  6d. 
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Vll.,  with  Engli.sh  Notes.      12mo.     4s.  i 

A  PRACTICAL  INTRODUCTION  to  GREEK  ACCIDENCE.     With  Easy  E.\er- 

cises  and  Vocabularv.     Fifth  Edition.     8vo.     5s.  (id. 
A  PRACTICAL  INTRODUCTION  to  GREEK  PROSE  COMPOSITION,  Part  I. 
Ei<]hth  Edition.     8vo.     6s.  (id.  I 

This  new  Edition  has  been  reprinted  from  the  Sixth  in  deference  to  opinions  of  authority  as  to  | 
the  comparative  usefulness  of  the  Sixth  and  Seventh  Editions,  and  will  remain  in  future  the  i 
standard  Edition  of  the  Work. 
*,*  The  object  of  this  Work  is  to  enable  the  Student,  as  soon  as  he  can  decline  and  conjugate  | 
with  tolerahle  facility,  to  translate  •■•imple  sentences  after  given  examples,  and  with  given  I 
words;  the  principles  trusted  to  being  principally  those  of  iiniliilion  and  very  frequent  repeti- 
tion.    It  is  at  once  a  Syntax,  a  Vocabulary,  and  an  Exercise  Book. 


BY  MESSRS.  RIVINGTON.  1.5 


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t  A  PRACTICAL  INTRODUCTION  to  GREEK  PROSE  COMPOSITION,  Part  II. 
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A  GREEK  GRAMMAR  ;  intended  as  a  sufficient  Grammar  of  Reference  for  Schools 
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PROFESSOR  MADVIG'S  SYNTAX  of  the  GREEK  LANGUAGE,  especially  of 
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16  ARNOLD'S  EDUCATIONAL  WORKS  {Continued). 


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